Physical Activity and Accomplishment of Recommendations in University Students with Disabilities: A Longitudinal Study

Miquel Pans, Joan Úbeda-Colomer, Javier Monforte and José Devís-Devís
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Miquel Pans: AFES Research Group, Departament d’Educació Física i Esportiva, FCAFE, Universitat de València, 46010 València, Spain
Joan Úbeda-Colomer: AFES Research Group, Departament d’Educació Física i Esportiva, FCAFE, Universitat de València, 46010 València, Spain
Javier Monforte: Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Durham University, 42 Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HN, UK
José Devís-Devís: AFES Research Group, Departament d’Educació Física i Esportiva, FCAFE, Universitat de València, 46010 València, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 11, 1-11

Abstract: University settings are socio-environmental contexts that can reduce health disparities in students with disabilities. Therefore, the aim of this study was twofold: (a) to examine the longitudinal physical activity (PA) changes of Spanish university students with disabilities during a three-year period; and (b) to identify the accomplishment of the World Health Organization’s PA recommendations in this period. A three-year follow-up cohort study was conducted on 355 university students with disabilities (172 men, 183 women). The participants completed an electronic survey on PA after which a descriptive analysis, longitudinal (Wilcoxon tests) and cross-sectional pairwise comparisons (Mann–Whitney U and Kruskal–Wallis tests) were performed on non-normal data. The results show no significant PA changes during the three-year period. The cross-sectional comparisons between the waves presented a reduction in vigorous PA according to sex and similar values by age, origin of disability, and socioeconomic status. A global reduction of 0.6% was found in achieving the recommendations between the waves. We also found an increase of 5.3% in the participants classified as overweight–obese during this period. The findings offered in this study have important implications for university disability care services and sports services. University policies should focus on rethinking PA and sports programs for students with disabilities.

Keywords: physical activity; disability; students; university; cohort (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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