TITLE:
The Role of Physical Education Homework to Adolescent Girls’ Physical Activity in Finland
AUTHORS:
Mari Kääpä, Sanna Palomäki, Henri Vähä-Ypyä, Tommi Vasankari, Mirja Hirvensalo
KEYWORDS:
Physical Activity, Adolescent Girls, PE Homework, Accelerometer, Self-Report
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Physical Education,
Vol.9 No.4,
October
10,
2019
ABSTRACT: Introduction: There is an urgent need for active strategies to promote physical
activity (PA) among female adolescents, as they are at greater risk of physical
inactivity. In addition to Physical Education (PE) in school, to reach adequate
levels of PA, young people need to participate in PA during the school day
and/or after-school hours and/or in the before-school period. One week of objectively
measured and self-reported information enlightens the status quo of adolescent
girls’ PA and the role that PE homework plays. Purpose: The purpose of this study
was to examine girls’ objectively measured PA in a lower secondary school as
part of the Physical Education Homework Study, a project conducted in Finland.
An additional aim was to provide insights into physical education (PE) homework
as part of PA. Methods: Different levels of PA (i.e., light, moderate,
vigorous), sedentary time, number of total steps and running steps were
measured using accelerometers among girls in the 7th, 8th and 9th grades, aged
between 12 and 15 years (n = 88) for
a period of 1 week. In addition, self-reported structured diaries were used to
gather information about after school activities, including PE homework. An
analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tamhane’s post-hoc
test was used to compare the
different grades on the basis of participants’ PA levels and sedentary time.
Data from self-reported PE homework frequencies and time spent on PE homework
were analysed using the
independent-samples t-test. Results: The PE homework was a small aspect
of the participants’ whole-day PA, averaging 34 minutes per week (7th grade girls 20 minutes, 8th grade girls 51 minutes, and
9th grade girls 32 minutes).
Half of the girls from the 8th grade reached the 60-minute PA recommendation
every day; 38% of all the girls met the recommended levels of PA. For the 7th grade girls, 35% met
the recommendation, while 28% of the 9th grade girls reached
the PA guidelines. The 7th grade girls recorded an average daily light PA time
of 3 hours 28 minutes; this was 34 minutes more than the girls from 8th grade (p = 0.000) and 30 minutes more than the
girls from the 9th grade (p = 0.000). Conclusion: The PE homework provided a variety of PA for the adolescent girls’ after-school hours, even if the role
of homework was not time-consuming (20 - 51 minutes per week).
A possible way of promoting active time
among adolescents during after-school hours is to assign them PE homework,
hence, active PE assignments could replace sedentary activities in adolescent
girls’ lives.