| Abstrakt: |
Background: Disadvantaged children from low-income schools have significant barriers to optimize health-related fitness levels. It is currently unknown if a summer vacation in this pediatric population negatively influences healthrelated fitness, consisting of body composition and cardio-respiratory endurance. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a 12-week summer break on health-related fitness in a large sample of elementary school-aged children from low-income schools receiving Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programming. Methods: Participants were 1,212 school-aged children (Mean age = 9.5 ± 1.8 years; 624 girls, 588 boys) recruited from three low-income schools receiving Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programing. Health-related fitness measures were collected during the end of Spring semester 2015 and again during the beginning Fall semester 2015. The specific measures consisted of body mass index (BMI) to estimate body composition and the Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) to estimate cardiorespiratory endurance. All measures were collected during physical education class. A 6 x 2 x 2 doubly MANCOVA test was employed to examine the effect of grade level (1st -- 6th), sex (girl, boy), and time (Spring, Fall) on BMI and PACER, adjusting for school and classroom-level clustering. The omnibus MANCOVA test was followed by separate mixed-design ANCOVA tests with a Bonferroni alpha level adjustment. Results: Results from the MANCOVA analysis indicated that BMI significantly increased from Spring to Fall semesters (Mean difference = 0.5 kg/m2, p < 0.01, Cohen's d = 0.40) and PACER laps decreased from 31.2 laps in the Spring to 25.8 laps in the Fall (Mean difference = -5.4 laps, p < 0.001, Cohen's d = 0.33). Children in the sixth grade had significantly greater decreases in the number of PACER laps completed at the Fall time-point compared to all other grade levels (p < 0.01). Discussion: Children from low-income schools receiving Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programing had higher BMI and lower PACER scores following a 12-week summer break. Practitioners and teachers working within school-based physical activity programing models need to be aware of the potential declines in health-related fitness over summer break order to devise preventative strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
