Physical Activity in WCSD Public Elementary Schools at Different Socioeconomic Levels With Semi-Structured Recess
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Authors
Cox, Sierra
Issue Date
2024
Type
Thesis
Language
Keywords
Physical Activity , Recess , Semi-structured Recess , Socioeconomic Status , Washoe County School District
Alternative Title
Abstract
Obesity and related chronic diseases have become more prevalent in children over recent decades, with children from low socioeconomic status (SES) families being disproportionately impacted. Physical activity (PA) has been shown to help weight maintenance and reduce symptoms of obesity-related diseases and establish healthy exercise habits. It is recommended that children engage in at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous PA or 12,000 steps each day. However, only 24% of children meet PA guidelines. Children with low SES have more sedentary behavior and less PA than those from high SES. Boys may also achieve up to 19% more moderate-to-vigorous PA daily than girls. This indicates the need for PA interventions that can be broadly applied and are accessible and enjoyable for children from all demographics. Schools are a favorable setting for incorporating PA programs because of their controlled environment. However, many schools don't require a Physical Education (PE) curriculum which leaves recess as the only opportunity for children to exercise during the school day. Semi-structured recess is an intervention that allows children to choose from a set list of activities to participate in. It has been used as an intervention to increase the amount of PA that children receive in school and shows promise for institutions that may not have the resources to provide PE or an abundance of playground equipment for recess. Purpose: This study seeks to examine the amount of steps and vigorous PA that children receive during recess based on their school SES and gender. Additionally, this study aims to determine if semi-structured recess can increase the number of steps and vigorous PA that children get during recess. Methods: This study included 87 participants in third, fourth, and fifth grades from a low SES school (n = 44 boys, 43 girls) and 61 participants from a high SES school (n = 32 boys, 29 girls). Participants wore Yamax DigiWalker SW-200 pedometers for the duration of this study. Unstructured recess was recorded for five school days, in which participants participated in normal recess, without any intervention or instruction on activities to engage. Following this, semi-structured recess was facilitated for five days, in which participants were given a choice between several different activities to participate in. SOPLAY was used to track trends in sedentary, walking and vigorous PA. Data were analyzed using a Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) test. Results: During unstructured recess, participants at the high SES school and low SES school had step rates of 67.3 steps per minute and 61.5 steps per minute respectively. With semi-structured recess, average step rates increases to 83.3 steps per minute and 77.3 steps per minute for the high and low SES schools. The low SES school had a significantly greater increase in step count with semi-structured recess (p < 0.001). During both unstructured and semi-structured recess, boys had higher step counts than the girls (p < 0.001). During semi-structured recess, the average number of steps between both genders and schools increased by an average of 302 steps (p < 0.001) and had a greater magnitude of change at the low SES school. Conclusion: Semi-structured recess is an intervention that can be applied to elementary schools to increase the amount of PA that children get during the school day regardless of school SES. Semi-structured recess is relatively low in cost and effort to facilitate, meaning that it may be especially beneficial to be applied in schools that lack the resources to provide a PE curriculum. More studies should be done to ensure that findings can be generalized to larger populations.