An Assessment of Sedentary Time Among Undergraduate Students at an Urban Canadian University

The purpose of this study was to calculate a total daily sedentary time for the undergraduate population at a large urban Canadian University and discover student perceptions on the facilitators and barriers to engaging in a less sedentary lifestyle. A sample of 335 participants responded to an online survey, with 102 participants included in the quantitative analysis and 145 included in the qualitative analysis. Participants responded to the SIT-Q Sedentary Behaviour Questionnaire and two opened ended questions. Analysis of the SIT-Q demonstrated that undergraduate student’s have daily sedentary times similar to previously studied adults with a significant amount of sedentary time allocated to study. Three themes were identified as facilitators to engaging in a less sedentary lifestyle: 1) access to a gym, 2) student jobs, and 3) walking to and on campus. Two themes were identified as barriers to engaging in a less sedentary lifestyle: 1) sitting in class and 2) studying outside of class. The results suggest that like desk-based working adults, undergraduate student’s have levels of sedentary behaviour that warrant further investigation and intervention, perhaps most effectively within the university classroom

An Assessment of Sedentary Time Among Undergraduate Students at a Canadian University

he purpose of this study was to calculate a total daily sedentary time for the undergraduate population at a large urban Canadian University and investigate student perceptions of the facilitators and barriers to engaging in a less sedentary lifestyle. A sample of 335 participants responded to an online questionnaire that included the SIT-Q and open-ended questions, with 102 providing sufficient data to be included in the quantitative analysis and 145 in the qualitative analysis. Students spent an average of 11.88 ± 3.46 hrs/day engaged in sedentary behaviors. Three themes were identified as facilitators to engaging in a less sedentary lifestyle: 1) access to a gym, 2) student jobs, and 3) walking to and on campus. Two themes were identified as barriers to engaging in a less sedentary lifestyle: 1) sitting in class and 2) studying outside of class. Similar to desk-based working adults, undergraduate students have levels of sedentary behavior that warrant further investigation and intervention, perhaps most effectively within the universityclassroom