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 Hargens
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).
