Feasibility and short-term effects of Activity Coach+: a physical activity intervention in hard-to-reach people with a physical disability

Physical activity behaviour up to 1 year post-rehabilitation among adults with physical disabilities and/or chronic diseases: results of the prospective cohort study ReSpAct

BACKGROUND

Little is known of physical activity behaviour among adults with a disability and/or chronic disease during and up to 1 year post-rehabilitation. We aimed to explore (1) dose characteristics of physical activity behaviour among adults with physical disabilities and/or chronic diseases during that period, and (2) the effects of personal characteristics and diagnosis on the development of physical activity over time.

METHODS

Adults with physical disabilities and/or chronic diseases (N=1256), enrolled in the Rehabilitation, Sports and Active lifestyle study, were followed with questionnaires: 3-6 weeks before (T0) and 14 (T1), 33 (T2) and 52 (T3) weeks after discharge from rehabilitation. Physical activity was assessed with the adapted version of the Short Questionnaire to ASsess Health enhancing physical activity. Dose characteristics of physical activity were descriptively analysed. Multilevel regression models were performed to assess physical activity over time and the effect of personal and diagnosis characteristics on physical activity over time.

RESULTS

Median total physical activity ranged from 1545 (IQR: 853-2453) at T0 to 1710 (IQR: 960-2730) at T3 min/week. Household (495-600 min/week) and light-intensity (900-998 min/week) activities accrued the most minutes. Analyses showed a significant increase in total physical activity moderate-intensity to vigorous-intensity physical activity and work/commuting physical activity for all time points (T1-T3) compared with baseline (T0). Diagnosis, age, sex and body mass index had a significant effect on baseline total physical activity.

CONCLUSION

Physical activity is highly diverse among adults with physical disabilities and/or chronic diseases. Understanding this diversity in physical activity can help improve physical activity promotion activities.

Developing Indicators to Evaluate Instructor Management of Sports Centers for the People With Disabilities Based on Universal Design Principles in South Korea

This study was conducted to develop evaluation indicators for instructor-led management of sports centers for the disabled using universal design (UD) principles in South Korea. These indicators have been developed through Delphi technique to identify the effectiveness of an instructor's management skills. There were 11 documents related to UD used in the literature review, and seven were related to the evaluation index. Through reading and analyzing the relevant contents of the collected literature and many rounds of the Delphi technique, we selected the method and criteria for deriving the evaluation index. In this study, we developed a method that constitutes an evaluation index. The index comprises one evaluation criterion and four evaluation indices. First, for the sub-items of the “recruitment” category, four principles of UD and one supplementary principle of product performance program (PPP) were applied to create items for the evaluation index. Second, the sub-items of the “education” category comprise three evaluation criteria and 10 evaluation indicators. These were applied to the fourth principle of UD and the first and second by-supplementary principles of PPP. The third category, “welfare,” comprised two evaluation criteria and six evaluation indices, and the first by-supplementary principle of PPP was applied to the evaluation indices. The index created for evaluating instructors in sports centers using the method elucidated in this study was adequately reliable. Following a similar method, more evaluation indicators should be developed for evaluations of other functions (such as programs, public relations, safety, and finance) based on the principles of UD.