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B. Baattaiah1, M. Aldhahi2, M. Alharbi1, A. Alqahtani3
1King Abdulaziz University, Faculty of Medical Rehabilitation Sciences, Department of Physical Therapy, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 2Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 3King Saud University, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Background: The unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19 poses a global health and economic crisis that may affect all aspects of life. Physical activity (PA) is one of the aspects that might be impacted negatively as a consequence of gyms and sports halls closure. Resilience is an important consideration for understanding how individuals take part in buffering any constraints of PA.
Purpose: To characterize the PA and resilience levels and to examine to which extent resilience construct may moderate the level of PA among adults during COVID-19 pandemic in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted in KSA during the quarantine period. A total of 1859 respondents were consented prior to complete the survey and were included in the analysis. The PA and resilience levels were assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF) and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS); respectively. Data were analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis test to examine the difference in PA across the resilience levels. Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used to assess the relationship between the resilience and PA. Data were reported as median (interquartile range value). Alpha level was set at p< 0.05.
Results: The demographic characteristics showed that the majority of the respondents in our study were women 1069 (57%). The median body mass index (BMI) was 26(8.04) kg/m2. The findings showed that 1579 of the respondents engaged in PA and 280 showed sedentary behavior. For both genders, the majority were performing moderate intensity of PA, which was significantly higher in women compared to men (116 (152) vs 90 (122) min/wk, (p=.01); respectively). There were no significant differences in terms of vigorous PA between women and men (90 (122) vs 90 (145) min/week). Regarding resilience, the median score was 3(0.85). Women and men resilience scores were 3.33 (.83) and 3.5 (.83); respectively, which indicated medium level of resilience. Self-reported levels of resilience based on gender showed a significant difference (p<0.001) between men and women who reported low, medium and high resilience levels. The positive correlation coefficient was shown between the average score of resilience in both walking (rs =0.01, p<0.001) and vigorous PA (rs =0.08, p=.007). Data showed no significant correlation between moderate level of PA and resilience score.
Conclusion(s): PA level might be impacted negatively during COVID-19 pandemic. Gender differences were found regarding PA intensities levels. However, the majority of the respondents did not reach the weekly ACSM recommended level of PA. When taking gender differences into account, most of the respondents had medium resilience score. Resilience was also found to be related to PA. More emphasis toward PA engagement after quarantine is highly needed. Also, our data suggested that resilience might be more beneficial to sustain PA and that should be taken into consideration.
Implications: Maintaining an appropriate level of PA is important for health enhancement. The relationship between PA and resilience is also important in guiding the healthcare providers and decision makers to evolve and implement appropriate therapeutic strategies.
Funding, acknowledgements: This work is unfunded.
Keywords: Physical activity, Resilience, COVID-19
Topic: COVID-19
Did this work require ethics approval? Yes
Institution: King Abdulaziz University
Committee: Faculty of Medical Rehabilitation Sciences
Ethics number: FMRS-EC2020-02-005
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
