Physical Activity, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Stress among the Chinese Adult Population during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Meiling Qi, Ping Li, Wendy Moyle, Benjamin Weeks and Cindy Jones
Additional contact information
Meiling Qi: School of Nursing, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China
Ping Li: School of Nursing, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China
Wendy Moyle: Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Nathan Campus, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia
Benjamin Weeks: Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Nathan Campus, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia
Cindy Jones: Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Nathan Campus, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 18, 1-10

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic poses a threat to global public health due to home confinement policies impacting on physical activity engagement and overall health. This study aimed to explore physical activity participation, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and levels of perceived stress among Chinese adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was conducted between 25 February and 15 March 2020. A total of 645 surveys were completed. Participants reported increased sedentary time from pre-COVID-19 period to the COVID-19 pandemic period ( p < 0.05). Over 80% of the sample engaged in either low or moderate intensity physical activity. Participants’ average physical component summary score (PCS) and mental component summary score (MCS) for HRQoL were 75.3 ( SD = 16.6) and 66.6 ( SD = 19.3), respectively. More than half of participants (53.0%) reported moderate levels of stress. Significant correlations between physical activity participation, HRQoL, and levels of perceived stress were observed ( p < 0.05). Prolonged sitting time was also found to have a negative effect on HRQoL ( p < 0.05). During such periods of home confinement, public health strategies aimed at educating Chinese adults to enhance home-based physical activity may be necessary to maintain health on a population level.

Keywords: physical activity; quality of life; perceived stress; COVID-19; Chinese adults (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/18/6494/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/18/6494/ (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:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:18:p:6494-:d:409777

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

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