Trends in health behavior at an afterschool program: the impact of COVID-19 on students' behavior

Abstract

Background: A minority of American youth meet CDC physical activity (PA) recommendations; children in the Bronx face additional structural barriers to engaging in PA. The B'N Fit Power expansion draws on pilot programming to increase the proportion of middle school students who engage in one hour of daily PA. The COVID-19 pandemic presented additional obstacles, including increased food insecurity and suspension of organized PA programming. This research aimed to evaluate differences in baseline target behavior attainment before and after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to inform future programming to help children reduce their risk of obesity.

Methods: Afterschool program leaders at three Bronx public schools collected demographic and target behavior data at baseline and attendance data throughout the school year.

Results: During the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years, 76 students enrolled and completed one year of programming, which was administered at a single site (61 % Hispanic, 46% female). Of these, 76 (100%) completed a baseline target behaviors questionnaire. During the 2021-2022 school year, 417 students enrolled and completed one year of programming at one of the three sites (70% Hispanic, 48% female). 89 (21%) completed a baseline target behaviors questionnaire. Participants surveyed after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic reported drinking more sugar-sweetened beverages (Median=3 daily, IQR 2-5), sleeping less (Median=8 hours daily, IQR 6-9 hours), and consuming fast food more frequently (Median=1 time weekly, IQR 0 times weekly-2 to 3 times weekly) than those surveyed prior to the start of the pandemic. The number of PA hours completed each week trended toward significant decline (Median=3, IQR 2-5, p=0.09) in students tracked after the start of the pandemic.

Conclusions: The attainment of several target behaviors among school children linked to the reduction of childhood obesity declined during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings can be applied to enhancing existing real-world afterschool PA programming.

Keywords: COVID-19; afterschool program; childhood obesity; physical activity.

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose, and the authors have no financial relationships relevant to this article to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1

Distribution of target behavior responses BRK = number of days student consumed breakfast weekly LCH = number of days student consumed lunch weekly VEG = number of servings of vegetables the student consumed daily FRT = number of servings of fruit the student consumed daily SFB = number of cups of sugar-free beverages the student consumed daily SB = number of cups of sweetened beverages the student consumed daily SLP = number of nightly hours of sleep the student received PA = number of days the student did one hour of physical activity US = number of times weekly students consumed unhealthy snacks FF = number of times weekly students consumed fast food STR = number of daily hours spent on recreational screen time * = p-value 0.05 ** = p-value 0.01

Figure 2

Goal target behaviors