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DO “KNOW YOUR NUMBERS” PARTICIPANTS MEET THE NATIONAL RECOMMENDED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AS A VITAL SIGN?

Abstract

M. Hoke, J. Navarro, M. Eliassen, Y. Jeschke, L. Lindsay, D. Gray, S. Mains

University of Anchorage Alaska, Anchorage, AK

“Know Your Numbers” (KYN) is a two-day fitness assessment and exercise prescription led by University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) undergraduate students in the Physical Education Program. PAVS, Physical Activity Vital Sign, was created through the Exercise is Medicine ® vision to have health care providers assess patient’s physical activity (PA) level. The national guidelines recommend 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous intensity PA. PURPOSE: To assess whether participants in the Fall 2018 KYN’s program are meeting the guidelines for PA through the assessment of PAVS. METHODS: Participants registered for KYN were asked to participate in the collection of PAVS, type of PA, motivation and barriers to PA using a questionnaire and interview. PAVS is calculated by the product of the number of days and amount of time. RESULTS: Of an n=72, 46 people (63.9%) had a PAVS that met the recommendation. The average PAVS was 223.25±157.80 minutes of exercise/week. KYN participants exercised an average of 3.8 days/week and an average 49.39±29.87 mins/day. Of the 46 participants who met the guidelines, 43.5% did a mix of both individual and group activities, whereas 47.8% of people preferred to participate in exercise indoors. Health/longevity was the most selected motivational factor, whereas time was the greatest barrier to PA. CONCLUSION: Our findings show that there is a higher percentage of the KYN population meeting the PA guidelines of 150 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous intensity PA a week (63.9%) compared to both the Healthy People 2018 Update (54.1%) and Healthy Alaskans 2018 Update (56.7%). Public health interventions should look at both the motivations and barriers listed in this study to implement and increase awareness of PA within the university and the community. While the data is useful and begins to make PAVS known to Alaskans, future research should be conducted on a more representative sample.

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