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- Creators: School of Nutrition and Health Promotion
- Creators: Holzapfel, Simon
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
- Resource Type: Text
Description
Background: The prevalence of childhood obesity has disproportionately affected Latino youth and can be seen with an increase incidence of Type 2 Diabetes. This increase in obesity can be attributed to physical inactivity. Increases in social support and self-efficacy are independently related to increases in physical activity. A lifestyle intervention can lead to increases in social support, self-efficacy and physical activity. Objective/Hypothesis: The objective of this study was to determine whether a 12-week lifestyle intervention could increase social support, self-efficacy and physical activity in obese Latino adolescents that participated in the intervention. It was hypothesized that adolescents that participated in the intervention would increase self-efficacy, social support from family and friends, and physical activity compared to their control counterparts. Study Design/Participants: In a randomized control trial, there were 125 Latino (n= 60 experimental group; n= 65 control group; mean age = 15.17 +- 1.65 Males n = 60; n = 65 females) participants included in this study. Participants were also required to have a BMI percentile >= 95th percentile for age and gender or BMI >= 30 kg/m2. Methods: The intervention, which was developed using the Social Cognitive Theory had components focusing on social support and self-efficacy and also consisted of nutrition education classes and physical activity sessions for 12 weeks. The psychosocial constructs of self-efficacy and social support were measured using the Adolescent Self-Efficacy for Diet and Activity Behaviors and Adolescent Social Support for Diet and Exercise Survey, respectively. Physical activity was assessed by the 3-day Physical Activity Recall. Results: We found significant increases in social support in family (p = 0.042) and vigorous physical activity (p = 0.001). There was also a significant difference between control and treatment group for moderate to vigorous physical activity after the intervention (p = 0.027). There were no changes in social support from friends or self-efficacy. Conclusion: We concluded that a 12-week lifestyle intervention did lead to changes in social support and physical activity behaviors. These changes could have been influenced by the intervention as they were measured these constructs pre/post intervention.
ContributorsRahman, Hanna (Author) / Shaibi, Gabriel (Thesis director) / Hoffner, Kristin (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The aim of this study was to examine the effects of Assisted Cycle Therapy (ACT) on self-efficacy and exercise perception in older adults with Down syndrome (DS) after a three times a week for 8 weeks intervention. Thirteen participants were in the ACT group in which a motor assisted their cycling to be performed at least 30% faster than voluntary cycling (VC), 11 participants were in the voluntary cycling group and two participants were in the no cycling (NC) group. The results showed that both exercise groups (i.e., ACT and VC) improved in their self-efficacy after the 8 week intervention. In addition, exercise perception improved following ACT and not VC or NC. Our results are discussed with respect to their future implications for exercise in the DS population. It might be that the yielded results were due to differences in effort required by each intervention group as well as the neurotrophic factors that occur when muscle contractions create synaptic connections resulting in improvement in cognition and feelings of satisfaction. In the future, research should focus on the psychological factors such as social accountability and peer interaction as they relate to ACT and physical activity in person's with DS.
ContributorsTucker, Kori Ann (Author) / Ringenbach, Shannon (Thesis director) / Arnold, Nathaniel (Committee member) / Holzapfel, Simon (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The purpose of this study, originally, was to contribute to the completion of a meta-analysis conducted by Mara Wierstra from the University of Virginia. Wierstra had requested individual participant data from two separate studies conducted in our lab: "Acute bouts of assisted cycling improves cognitive and upper extremity movement functions in adolescents with Down syndrome" and "Assisted Cycling Therapy (ACT) improves inhibition in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder." From the data requested, the participants were required to complete three separate tests (i.e., Tower of London, Trail Making Task and the Stroop Test). After compiling the data and sending it to her, we decided to conduct a small meta-analysis of our own, drawing connecting conclusions from the data from the two studies. We concluded that observationally our data suggest an advantage for ACT over voluntary cycling and no cycling across two separate populations (i.e., Autism Spectrum Disorder and Down syndrome), and across different measures of executive function (i.e., Stroop Test, Trail Making Test, and Tower of London). The data suggest that the ACT interventions may promote the upregulation of neurotropic factors leading to neurogenesis in the prefrontal cortex of the brain.
ContributorsParker, Cade Joseph (Author) / Ringenbach, Shannon (Thesis director) / Holzapfel, Simon (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
This study examines the effectiveness of two modes of exercise on self-efficacy (SE) in adolescents with Down syndrome (DS). Thirty-nine participants were randomly divided into a voluntary cycling group (VC) (i.e., self-selected cadence), an assisted cycling group (ACT) (i.e., at least 30% faster than self-selected cadence accomplished by a motor), or a no exercise group (NC). In each cycling intervention the participant completed 30 minute cycling sessions, three times per week for a total of eight weeks. Two subsets of the Physical Activity and Self Efficacy Survey were administered prior to cycling (i.e., pretest) and after the eight week intervention (i.e., post-test). The results were consistent with the hypothesis that self-efficacy would improve after ACT, however there was not improvement after the VC condition as hypothesized. It was also hypothesized that exercise perception would improve following the ACT intervention; execise perception showed a trend of improvement after ACT, but the data did not reach significance. Limitations include the wide variability of the DS population. This limitation is responsible for the variation in mental age seen in the intervention groups and could be responsible for the non-significance of the exercise perception data. To generalize our results for parents, therapists, teachers, etc., our recommendation is for persons with DS to participate in physical activity that is easy for them at first \u2014 a simplified sport or active game, assisted cycling, brisk walking \u2014 so that they have a positive experience with exercise. Showing individuals with DS that they can be proficient exercisers will likely improve their self-efficacy and motivate them to engage in more PA over time. In conclusion, eight weeks of moderate ACT exercise demonstrated a significant trend for improved self-efficacy in adolescents with DS.
ContributorsWallace, Kellie Carter (Author) / Ringenbach, Shannon (Thesis director) / Youngstedt, Shawn (Committee member) / Hoffner, Kristin (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12