Effects of Active Breaks on Physical Literacy: A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study in a Region of Spain

María Mendoza-Muñoz, Violeta Calle-Guisado, Raquel Pastor-Cisneros, Sabina Barrios-Fernandez, Jorge Rojo-Ramos, Alejandro Vega-Muñoz, Nicolás Contreras-Barraza and Jorge Carlos-Vivas
Additional contact information
María Mendoza-Muñoz: Research Group on Physical and Health Literacy and Health-Related Quality of Life (PHYQOL), Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Extremadura, 10003 Caceres, Spain
Violeta Calle-Guisado: Research Group on Physical and Health Literacy and Health-Related Quality of Life (PHYQOL), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Extremadura, 06800 Badajoz, Spain
Raquel Pastor-Cisneros: Promoting a Healthy Society Research Group (PHeSO), Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Extremadura, 10003 Caceres, Spain
Sabina Barrios-Fernandez: Social Impact and Innovation in Health (InHEALTH) Research Group, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Extremadura, 10003 Caceres, Spain
Jorge Rojo-Ramos: Social Impact and Innovation in Health (InHEALTH) Research Group, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Extremadura, 10003 Caceres, Spain
Alejandro Vega-Muñoz: Public Policy Observatory, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Santiago 7500912, Chile
Nicolás Contreras-Barraza: Facultad de Economía y Negocios, Universidad Andres Bello, Viña del Mar 2531015, Chile
Jorge Carlos-Vivas: Promoting a Healthy Society Research Group (PHeSO), Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Extremadura, 10003 Caceres, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-13

Abstract: Several studies have shown that active breaks (AB) lead to improvements in physical fitness, daily steps taken and participants’ health. However, there are no studies that have evaluated how they affect physical literacy (PL). Aims: Therefore, this study examined the effects of a 4-week recreational AB program based on games whose main objective was to improve motivation and motor skills’ improvement in PL in schoolchildren. Method: A quasi-experimental pilot study was conducted with PL assessments before and after a 4-week recreational AB program. Results: Fifty-seven schoolchildren (10.28 ± 0.43 years) participated in the study, 29 in the control group and 28 in the experimental group. An improvement in PL was found between the experimental and control groups after the intervention ( p = 0.017). Moreover, the experimental group also improved ( p < 0.001) PL after the intervention. More specifically, within the domain of PL, improvements were found after the intervention in the experimental group in the domains of physical competence ( p < 0.001), motivation and confidence ( p < 0.001) and knowledge ( p < 0.001) but not in the domain of daily activity ( p = 0.051). Conclusion: The application of an AB program based on playful games, during four weeks, produced an increase in scores in the general PL level, as well as in the domains of physical competence, motivation, and knowledge and understanding in schoolchildren.

Keywords: active breaks; physical literacy; playful games; schoolchildren (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/7597/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/7597/ (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:19:y:2022:i:13:p:7597-:d:844258

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 ().