Background/Purpose: High risk sedentary time for youth on school days occurs between 3:00-6:00PM. Approximately 92% of this time is spent in sedentary behavior or light activity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a 12-week government after school program, Body and Mind (BAM), on physical activity (PA) and determine what location and type of physical activity provided the greatest means for PA.
Method: The BAM program included 3rd-6th grade students (N=35) and occurred once a week (3:00-5:00PM). Pedometers were used to measure PA. The location of PA was categorized as indoor or outdoor while type of PA was categorized as individual (e.g., tag-like or free-play) or team (e.g., soccer) activities. Average step counts for indoor, outdoor, individual, and team activities were calculated for each participant. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the average amount of PA for each BAM session and paired samples t-tests were employed to compare step counts during indoor vs. outdoor and individual vs. team activities.
Analysis/Results: The average step count for each BAM session was 2108 (SD=520). Analysis revealed outdoor (2101±881) had greater step counts than indoor activities (1607±505), t(31)=2.66, p=0.012, and Individual (2175±496) had greater step counts than team activities (1995±485), t(31)=2.55, p=0.016.
Conclusions: The BAM after school program lead to more than 2100 steps per session, during which time youth may not otherwise have been engaged in PA. When trying to maximize PA, outdoor areas should be considered and students should be encouraged to engage in individual activities.
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