TY - JOUR
T1 - Adult outdoor group sport play during a pandemic
T2 - Feasibility, acceptability, and program adherence results from a study of modifications to mitigate COVID-19 risk
AU - Ladwig, Matthew A.
AU - Sciamanna, Christopher N.
AU - Rutt, Kayla N.
AU - Blaker, Joshua M.
AU - Kearcher, Kalen
AU - Auer, Brandon J.
AU - Rovniak, Liza S.
AU - Conroy, David E.
AU - Gottschall, Jinger S.
AU - Silvis, Matthew L.
AU - Smyth, Joshua M.
AU - Wang, Ming
N1 - Funding Information:
This work is supported by a grant (R33/R61 HL142679) from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), entitled “Comparative effectiveness of social physical play and traditional exercise programming.”
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s)
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility, acceptability, and short-term adherence to an adult outdoor group sport play program designed to maximize enjoyment that was modified to incorporate COVID-19 risk mitigation strategies. We enrolled 17 healthy, but sedentary, central Pennsylvania adults (meanage = 31.6 ± 7.3) without obesity via mail advertisements to participate in four, 60-minute sessions of instructor-led modified sport games (e.g., handball, Ultimate Frisbee, soccer) over a two-week period in October 2020. Durign recrutiment and the study period, there were approximately 1000–2000 new cases of COVID-19 daily in central Pennsylvania. The overall adherence rate to the sessions was 91%, and no participants reported new or existing COVID-19 symptoms or diagnoses during the two-week study period or 10-days following the final session. Despite enforcing mandatory COVID-19 safety measures (e.g., universal masking, social distancing), the participants reported enjoying the program and feeling socially connected with one another, while perceiving the program to be safe. Additionally, all participants expressed a desire to participate again, if the program were offered in the future. These results suggest that an outdoor group sport play program for adults can be feasible, acceptable, and well-adhered to despite enforcing mandatory COVID-19 safety precautions. Physical activity programs similar to the one presented here may provide an easily-adaptable approach to outdoor physical activity during the current and potential future pandemics that have viral transmission characteristics similar to COVID-19.
AB - The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility, acceptability, and short-term adherence to an adult outdoor group sport play program designed to maximize enjoyment that was modified to incorporate COVID-19 risk mitigation strategies. We enrolled 17 healthy, but sedentary, central Pennsylvania adults (meanage = 31.6 ± 7.3) without obesity via mail advertisements to participate in four, 60-minute sessions of instructor-led modified sport games (e.g., handball, Ultimate Frisbee, soccer) over a two-week period in October 2020. Durign recrutiment and the study period, there were approximately 1000–2000 new cases of COVID-19 daily in central Pennsylvania. The overall adherence rate to the sessions was 91%, and no participants reported new or existing COVID-19 symptoms or diagnoses during the two-week study period or 10-days following the final session. Despite enforcing mandatory COVID-19 safety measures (e.g., universal masking, social distancing), the participants reported enjoying the program and feeling socially connected with one another, while perceiving the program to be safe. Additionally, all participants expressed a desire to participate again, if the program were offered in the future. These results suggest that an outdoor group sport play program for adults can be feasible, acceptable, and well-adhered to despite enforcing mandatory COVID-19 safety precautions. Physical activity programs similar to the one presented here may provide an easily-adaptable approach to outdoor physical activity during the current and potential future pandemics that have viral transmission characteristics similar to COVID-19.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101476
DO - 10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101476
M3 - Article
C2 - 34230876
AN - SCOPUS:85109464225
SN - 2211-3355
VL - 23
JO - Preventive Medicine Reports
JF - Preventive Medicine Reports
M1 - 101476
ER -