The Effects of Brain Breaks on Motives of Participation in Physical Activity among Primary School Children in Malaysia

Brain breaks is a physical activity (PA) video designed for school settings that is used to stimulate student’s health and learning. The purpose of this study is to measure the effects of brain breaks on motives of participation in PA among primary school children in Malaysia. Purposive sampling was used to divide 159 male and 176 female students aged 10 to 11 years old, mean (standard deviation (SD)) = 10.51 (0.50), from two schools in Kelantan, Malaysia into intervention (n = 183) and control (n = 152) groups. Students undertook brain breaks activities on school days (five minutes per session) spread out for a period of four months. Mixed factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the students’ motives of participation in PA for pre-, mid-, and post-tests using the Physical Activity and Leisure Motivation Scale-Youth-Malay (PALMS-Y-M). Mixed factorial ANOVA showed significant changes in enjoyment, F(2, 392) = 8.720, p-value (η(p)(2)) = 0.001 (0.043); competitiveness, F(2, 195) = 4.364, p-value (η(p)(2)) = 0.014 (0.043); appearance, F(2, 392) = 5.709, p-value (η(p)(2)) = 0.004 (0.028); and psychological condition, F(2, 392) = 4.376, p-value (η(p)(2)) = 0.013 (0.022), whereas mastery, affiliation, and physical condition were not significant (p < 0.05). Further post-hoc analysis revealed a significant downward trend in the control group (p < 0.05). Brain breaks is successful in maintaining students’ motives for PA in four of the seven factors.