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Background: Physical inactivity among children and adolescents with disabilities (CAWD) is a global public health issue. Policy efforts to promote physical activity (PA) among CAWD have increased. This study summarizes the international policy trend for promoting PA among CAWD, with behavioral and policy insights specific to CAWD from country/regional indicators from the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance Matrix on Physical Activity for Children and Adolescents to determine policy translation into practice., Methods: International and national PA policy documents on CAWD were assessed. Data from the Global Matrix Para Report Cards on the behavioral and government indicators from 14 countries or regions (grouped by human development index) were reviewed and compared., Results: Policy instruments began promoting PA for CAWD in 1989 via the Convention on the Rights of the Child. International policy has been advocating PA specifically for CAWD recently. In 2020, the World Health Organization published specific PA guidelines for CAWD. Data from the 14 Para Report Car found 14 grades on the average behavioral indicator and 12 on the government indicator. A gap between the average behavioral indicator (D-) and the government indicator (C+) was found in the Para Report Card data., Conclusions: Although international policies are consistent in their attention to the needs of CAWD, national/regional policies vary. Coverage ranges from nonexistent to embedded in broader inclusion concepts. A gap in policies to promote PA of CAWD is prevalent and is more prominent in countries or regions with a lower human development index ranking.

By adopting Sport Education into the university context, this study examined how lesson content and teacher interaction contribute to university students' physical activity levels during physical education lessons. Following a continuing professional development workshop, a 10-week Sport Education season was designed collaboratively and implemented at a university, taking into account the university's facilities. This study used the momentary time sampling tool, System for Observing Fitness Instruction Time, in which eight teachers and 202 students (72% male) were videotaped in 156 lessons. The data on physical activity levels, lesson content, and teacher behavior were collected and analyzed. The student-participants engaged in an average of 38.77 (±18.78) moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) minutes which did not meet the recommendation of 50% lesson time. Findings of hierarchical linear regression indicated that knowledge (β = 0.29) and general content (β = 0.29) contributed to the sitting physical activity while skill practices (β = 0.25) and gameplay (β = 0.38) predicted the MVPA. Practical implications of utilizing the features of Sport Education in boosting the intensity of activities are discussed, especially team affiliation, formal competition, and record keeping. Further investigations are proposed on the interaction of gameplay content and teacher behavior with larger sample size., (© Journal of Sports Science and Medicine.)

Evidence suggests that adolescent males take part in more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) than females, and that adolescents with disabilities participate in even less. Public health data are typically based on the international physical activity (PA) recommendations of at least 60 minutes of MVPA daily. However, it appears that data are lost because a person who reports MVPA 0-6 days a week is grouped together and is considered as 'inactive'. Therefore, the purposes of this study were to report differences among adolescents with and without disabilities who were 'active' and 'inactive' and to explore differences by sex. A complete enumeration study (2017 School Health Promotion Survey; n = 128,803) of Finnish adolescents aged between 14-19 years old was conducted. The single item self-report MVPA was used with items from the Washington Group on Disability Statistics. Data were grouped into physiological and cognitive disabilities and were split into active and inactive adolescents based on the PA recommendations; subsequently, binary logistic regression analyses were performed. Data from the inactive participants were analyzed with multivariate analysis of covariance and effect sizes were reported. Approximately 10% of males and 17% of females reported disabilities. There were fewer adolescents with disabilities who took part in daily PA (OR = 0.90, CI = 0.85-0.94), especially among those with cognitive disabilities (OR = 0.86, CI = 0.82-0.91). There were more active male than female adolescents (OR = 1.48, CI = 1.43-1.52). Of the inactive adolescents, females reported similar MVPA to males, with and without disabilities after controlling for age, school type, and family financial situation. Inactive adolescents with walking difficulties reported the least amount of MVPA (males; mean = 2.24, CI = 2.03-2.44, females; mean = 2.18, CI = 1.99-2.37). The difference in means with adolescents without disabilities according to Cohen's d effect size was medium for males (0.56) and females (0.58). The effect sizes from all other groups of disabilities were small. The difference in PA between males and females has diminished among the inactive groups, yet there is still a need to improve the gap between males and females, especially for those who meet the PA recommendations. More strategies are needed to improve MVPA among adolescents with disabilities, especially those with cognitive disabilities.

The purpose of this study was to examine the physical activity (PA) of children with physical disabilities (PD) and its associated environmental and behavioral factors at home and at school. One hundred and forty-seven Hong Kong children (mean age = 13.5 ± 2.5 years) with PD from three special schools participated. We used BEACHES (Behaviors of Eating and Activity for Children's Health: Evaluation System) to assess their PA and associated variables at home (before dinner) and during four school settings (before classes, recess, lunch breaks, after classes) on four school days. Overall, the children were typically inactive and spent little time in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), range = 6.3% to 17.0% across settings. At home, children were more active when fathers were present ( p < 0.001). At school, prompts to be active contributed to their MVPA% before classes ( p < 0.01) and during recess and lunch breaks (both p < 0.001). The presence of a child's mother was positively associated with MVPA% before classes ( p < 0.001) and the presence of other children was associated with MVPA% during recess and lunch breaks (both p < 0.05). With children with PD accruing small amounts of MVPA in both home and school settings, multifaceted interventions reflecting both contextual and personal factors should be considered in order to increase the health-enhancing PA of this population.