Using Qualitative Geospatial Methods to Explore Physical Activity in Children with Developmental Disabilities: A Feasibility Study

Cameron M. Gee, Brianna T. Tsui, Kathleen A. Martin Ginis, Erica V. Bennett, Kelly P. Arbour-Nicitopoulos and Christine Voss ()
Additional contact information
Cameron M. Gee: International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9, Canada
Brianna T. Tsui: Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada
Kathleen A. Martin Ginis: International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9, Canada
Erica V. Bennett: School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
Kelly P. Arbour-Nicitopoulos: Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 2W6, Canada
Christine Voss: Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, University of British Columbia, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada

Disabilities, 2024, vol. 4, issue 4, 1-16

Abstract: Children with developmental disabilities (DDs) experience barriers to physical activity (PA) participation. Greater contextual information regarding their PA behaviors is needed for effective PA promotion. We investigated the feasibility of using activity trackers and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) devices with follow-up interviews to explore PA behaviors in children with DDs. Fifteen children with DDs (aged 10 ± 2 years) wore an activity tracker and GPS device for 7 days. Data were time-aligned to measure PA and identify PA locations. Maps were created to guide follow-up semi-structured interviews with the children and their parents/guardians to understand PA contexts and perceptions of daily PA. The children took 8680 ± 4267 steps/day across 6 ± 1 days. The children provided preferences for PA locations and the parents/guardians gave context by expressing how DDs affect PA and identifying environmental factors in PA locations. The children with DDs who lived near parks, participated in PA that leveraged the strengths of their individual skillsets, and had parents/guardians who provided social support had more positive PA experiences. Combining activity tracking and GPS data with follow-up map-based interviews is feasible to explore PA behaviors and the experiences of children with DDs. This methodology may provide novel insight into daily PA in children with DDs, which can inform how future interventions can support them to be more active and have positive experiences while being active.

Keywords: measurement; wearables; physical activity; autism spectrum disorder; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7272/4/4/53/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7272/4/4/53/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jdisab:v:4:y:2024:i:4:p:53-871:d:1504961

Access Statistics for this article

Disabilities is currently edited by Ms. Cici Zhou

More articles in Disabilities from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().