Promoting fruit and vegetable consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic - SportStudisMoveYou (SSMY): A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND The stay-at-home circumstances due to the global coronavirus pandemic have had some negative impacts on people's eating behavior. PURPOSE Therefore, this study attempted to improve fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption intention and behavior through an online video intervention based on the social cognitive theory. METHODS Participants were recruited with a promotion video posted on social media channels. After consenting and completing a pre-survey, participants were randomly assigned to either a) the intervention group addressing FV consumption or the b) attention control group addressing physical activity. After two weeks, the participants completed an online post-survey. RESULTS The participants (N = 82) were 77% female and 50% students; 95% chose German for the survey language, and 84% were from Switzerland. The mean baseline FV consumption intention was 3.05 (standard deviation: 1.03), and FV consumption was 4.64 (standard deviation: 2.06) portions a day. The analysis showed no significant change in FV consumption intention (F = (1, 78) = 0.02, p = 0.88, ηp2 = 0.00) or behavior (F = (1, 78) = 0.019, p = 0.89, ηp2 = 0.03) due to the intervention. CONCLUSIONS Plausible reasons why no significant effect was found were the brief intervention duration, the setting and insufficient tailoring. The lessons learned from this study are to plan better, tailor more to the needs of participants and carefully consider the goals before promoting an intervention

Leadership in Public Health: Provider Perspectives

The role of public health leaders in shaping decision- and policymaking remains a critical task that encompasses many qualities. The current report attempts to capture the perspectives about this task from those working in the community in Hawai‘i. Methods: This is a qualitative descriptive study design. Participants (n=115; 84.3% female; mean age=42.3 [SD = 12.3] years) generated lists of qualities they identified as critical for leadership and developed definitions of a public health leader. Data were coded thematically. Rating differences were subsequently discussed and converged to 100% interrater reliability in thematic ratings. Results: The most often cited theme in the leadership qualities highlighted a more general skill set, including organizational ability, being reliable, and being consistent (N=29, 25.44%). The most cited theme amongst the definitions was the ability to work with others and bring a team together (N=37, 31.09%). Of note are several differences from the literature, including having a community orientation, impact, integrity, and being a strategic thinker. Conclusion: The awareness of these perspectives and ability to integrate this information into one’s personal leadership style may help shape those individuals hoping to lead the field in the future

Predictors of physical activity behavior change based on the current stage of change—an analysis of young people from Hawai’i

This study investigated the corresponding change between psycho-social predictors and physical activity (PA) behavior and if these relationships were dependent on the stages of change from the Transtheoretical Model in Minority American adolescents. We conducted a longitudinal field study with N = 357 students aged 13–18 years (M = 14.24 years, SD = 0.88); predominantly Filipino (61.2%) using a test–retest design assessing psycho-social PA predictors (enjoyment, self-efficacy, family support, friends’ support, knowledge, stage of change) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) at two time points over six months. Hierarchical regression results indicated that a positive change of enjoyment, knowledge about PA and family support predicted a change of MVPA, independently of stage. The time-varying covariation showed the importance of the current stage of change for enjoyment, self-efficacy and support of friends for a change of MVPA. Overall, our findings suggest that an individual’s current stage of change should be considered to determine individually appropriate starting points and goals for designing interventions to promote PA among Minority American adolescents

Relating outdoor play to sedentary behavior and physical activity in youth - results from a cohort study

Background Outdoor play, sedentary behavior (SB), and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) are related to youth’s health, however, there are research gaps regarding 1) associations between outdoor play, SB, and MVPA across a broad pediatric age range (6–17 years), and 2) longitudinal associations between outdoor play, SB, and MVPA across childhood and adolescence. Two studies were conducted to address those research gaps: Study 1 aimed to investigate relationships between outdoor play and accelerometer-assessed SB and MVPA in a cross-sectional nationwide sample of children and adolescents in Germany. Study 2 aimed to investigate prospective associations between outdoor play and self-reported screen-time SB and MVPA and in a sample of children with three measurement timepoints across 11 years. Methods Data were obtained of the German national representative Motorik-Modul (MoMo) Study and the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS). In Study 1, N = 2278 participants (6–17 years) were included with self-reported outdoor play and accelerometer-assessed SB and MVPA. Associations were examined via multiple linear regressions. In Study 2, N = 570 participants (baseline: 4–7 years) were included in the longitudinal analysis with follow-ups six and 11 years later. Screen-time SB (TV watching and PC/Gaming), MVPA, and outdoor play were self-reported. Associations were investigated through a path prediction model. Results Study 1 showed that compared to <1 h outdoor play, higher engagement in daily outdoor play was related to lower SB (1-2 h: − 9.75 min/day, P = 0.017; ≥2 h: − 17.78 min/day, P < 0.001) and higher MVPA (≥2 h: + 3.87 min/day, P = 0.001). The cross-sectional relationship between MVPA and outdoor play was moderated by sex (in favor of males) and age (in favor of younger children). Study 2 showed that outdoor play in early childhood negatively predicted PC use/Gaming in later childhood, but was unrelated to MVPA. Conclusion In Study 1, outdoor play was negatively related to SB cross-sectionally. In Study 2, outdoor play in early childhood was negatively related to PC and Gaming time in later childhood. Thus, providing outdoor play opportunities, especially during early childhood, has potential to prevent SB. Future research should investigate longitudinal relationships using device-based assessments for SB and MVPA

Development and validation of assessments of adolescent health literacy: a Rasch measurement model approach.

BACKGROUND Health literacy (HL) is implicated in improved health decision-making and health promotion, and reduced racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic health disparities. Three major areas of HL include functional, interactive, and critical HL. HL skills develop throughout the lifespan as individuals' psychosocial and cognitive capacities develop and as they accumulate experiences with navigating health systems. Though adolescence is marked by increased involvement in health decision-making, most HL studies and measures of HL have focused on adults. Both the adult and adolescent HL literature are also limited by the paucity of validated test-based measures for assessing HL. The existing test-based validated HL measures for adolescents were originally designed for adults. However, adolescents are at an earlier phase of developing their HL skills (e.g., fewer experiences navigating the health system) compared to adults and measures originally designed for adults may assume prior knowledge that adolescents may lack therein underestimating adolescents' HL. This study developed and validated test-based assessments of adolescents' functional, interactive, and critical HL. METHODS Items were generated in an iterative process: focus groups with adolescents informed item content, cognitive interviews with adolescents and expert consultation established content and face validity of the initial items, and items were revised or removed where indicated. High school students (n = 355) completed a measurement battery including the revised HL items. The items were evaluated and validated using Rasch measurement models. RESULTS The final 6-item functional, 10-item interactive, and 7-item critical HL assessments and their composite (23 items) fit their respective Rasch models. Item-level invariance was established for gender (male vs. female), age (12-15-year-olds vs. 16-18-year-olds), and ethnicity in all assessments. The assessments had good convergent validity with an established measure of functional HL and scores on the assessments were positively related to reading instructions before taking medicine and questioning the truthfulness of health information found online. CONCLUSIONS These assessments are the first test-based measures of adolescents' interactive and critical HL, the first test-based measure of functional HL designed for adolescents, and the first composite test-based assessment of all three major areas of HL. These assessments should be used to inform strategies for improving adolescents' HL, decision-making, and behaviors

App development in a sports science setting: A systematic review and lessons learned from an exemplary setting to generate recommendations for the app development process

The digital health sector is rapidly growing. With only 4% of publishers out of academic settings, it is under-represented in app development. The objective of this study is to assess the current state of app development with a systematic review and a survey within an exemplary academic setting along the following research questions: (Q1) Are software engineering principles sufficiently known in the sports science app development context? (Q2) Is the role of sports scientists in the context of app development sufficiently understood? The systematic review was conducted by two independent reviewers within databases Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, and IEEE Xplore. The PICO schema was used to identify the search term. We subtracted information about five main topics: development process, functional requirements and features, security, technology, and dissemination. The survey was developed by a multidisciplinary team and focused on five main topics. Out of 701 matches, 21 were included in the review. The development process was only described in seven studies. Functional requirements and features were considered in 11 studies, security in 3, technology in 13, and dissemination in 12 with varying details. Twelve respondents [mean age 33(7) years, 58% women] replied to the survey. The survey revealed limited knowledge in realization of security measures, underlying technology and source code management, and dissemination. Respondents were able to provide input on development processes as well as functional requirements and features. The involvement of domain experts is given in seven review studies and described in two more. In 50% of survey respondents, the role in app development is defined as a research assistant. We conclude that there is a varying degree of software engineering knowledge in the sports science app development context (Q1). Furthermore, we found that the role of sports scientists within app development is not sufficiently defined (Q2). We present recommendations for improving the success probability and sustainability of app development and give orientation on the potential roles of sports scientists as domain experts. Future research should focus on the generalizability of these findings and the reporting of the app development process

App development in a sports science setting: A systematic review and lessons learned from an exemplary setting to generate recommendations for the app development process.

The digital health sector is rapidly growing. With only 4% of publishers out of academic settings, it is under-represented in app development. The objective of this study is to assess the current state of app development with a systematic review and a survey within an exemplary academic setting along the following research questions: (Q1) Are software engineering principles sufficiently known in the sports science app development context? (Q2) Is the role of sports scientists in the context of app development sufficiently understood? The systematic review was conducted by two independent reviewers within databases Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, and IEEE Xplore. The PICO schema was used to identify the search term. We subtracted information about five main topics: development process, functional requirements and features, security, technology, and dissemination. The survey was developed by a multidisciplinary team and focused on five main topics. Out of 701 matches, 21 were included in the review. The development process was only described in seven studies. Functional requirements and features were considered in 11 studies, security in 3, technology in 13, and dissemination in 12 with varying details. Twelve respondents [mean age 33(7) years, 58% women] replied to the survey. The survey revealed limited knowledge in realization of security measures, underlying technology and source code management, and dissemination. Respondents were able to provide input on development processes as well as functional requirements and features. The involvement of domain experts is given in seven review studies and described in two more. In 50% of survey respondents, the role in app development is defined as a research assistant. We conclude that there is a varying degree of software engineering knowledge in the sports science app development context (Q1). Furthermore, we found that the role of sports scientists within app development is not sufficiently defined (Q2). We present recommendations for improving the success probability and sustainability of app development and give orientation on the potential roles of sports scientists as domain experts. Future research should focus on the generalizability of these findings and the reporting of the app development process

The association between physical activity with incident obesity, coronary heart disease, diabetes and hypertension in adults: a systematic review of longitudinal studies published after 2012

Background A growing body of studies that investigated the longitudinal association between physical activity (PA) and the outcome of incident obesity, coronary heart disease (CHD), diabetes and hypertension has become available in recent years. Thus, the purpose of this systematic review was to provide an update on the association between PA and onset of obesity, CHD, diabetes and hypertension in individuals aged ≥18 years who were free of the respective conditions at baseline. Methods We systematically searched OVID, Pubmed, and Web of Science databases for pertinent literature published between January of 2012 and February of 2019. To ensure that conclusions are based on high quality evidence, we only included longitudinal studies conducted in samples of ≥500 participants and with ≥5 years of follow-up. Result The search yielded 8929 records of which 26 were included in this review. Three studies were conducted on the outcome of incident obesity, eight on incident CHD, nine on incident diabetes, four on incident hypertension, one on the outcome of both diabetes and hypertension, and one on the outcome of CHD, diabetes and hypertension. Overall, there was an association between PA and lower risk of incident obesity, CHD and diabetes, but not hypertension. Higher levels or amount of PA were associated with a reduced risk of new onset of the respective diseases in 20 studies (77%). Whereas four studies reported an elevated risk of incidence of diseases with lower PA levels (15%). PA was not associated with incidence of diseases in two studies (8%). Conclusion Higher levels of PA are likely associated with a lower risk of becoming obese, develop CHD or diabetes. These findings replicate and strengthen conclusions from earlier reviews underlining the importance of promoting PA in adults. The associations between PA and incident hypertension were less consistent. More research, particularly using prospective cohort designs in large population-based samples, is needed to further untangle the association between PA and incident hypertension

Interval Training in Sports Medicine: Current Thoughts on an Old Idea

In light of the global physical inactivity pandemic, the increasing prevalence of non-committable diseases, and mounting healthcare costs, effective and feasible prevention and treatment approaches are urgently needed [...]