Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Date of Graduation
5-13-2022
Semester of Graduation
Spring
Publish
yes
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science (BS)
Department
Department of Kinesiology
First Advisor
Trent A. Hargens
Second Advisor
Sarah Carson Sackett
Third Advisor
Christopher J. Womack
Abstract
Introduction: In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began, transitioning the university community from in-person learning to virtual learning, and shutting down many industries across the country. This study was conducted in order to analyze how the COVID-19 pandemic affected physical activity in university communities through the transition to virtual learning, and back into in-person learning.
Methods: Individuals who wore exercise tracking devices were recruited from university communities. Step count and activity data was collected from February 2020 to April 2021.
Results: 24 subjects completed the survey, with 17 being from Virginia, and other subjects being from other east coast states. Paired sample post-hoc t tests found a significance in change in step count from April 2020 to April 2021 (p=0.002). Repeated measures ANOVA reports a main effect for time for change in step count averages (p=0.015). It did not find an effect for change in MVPA.
Conclusion: The results of this study show that physical activity as measured through step count decreased from pre-COVID to during COVID, and then increased to even higher than pre-COVID levels a year later. The most significant change was seen between April 2020 and April 2021 (during COVID to post-COVID).
