Características do ambiente percebido e prática de atividade física em adolescentes: uma análise longitudinal

Abstract

Identifying and understanding the possible relationships between environmental attributes and the practice of physical activity in adolescents can help in the planning and development of public policies to promote physical activity with changes in the environment, providing more places and spaces for physical activities in the community. The objective of this study was to longitudinally analyze the relationship between the characteristics of the perceived environment and the time spent practicing different groups of physical activities by adolescents in the city of João Pessoa - Paraíba. Longitudinal observational study, with four years duration (2014 to 2017) and three waves of data collection, one per year. The target population consisted of adolescents between 10 and 13 years of age, of both sexes, from public schools in João Pessoa - Paraíba. The sample selection was probabilistic by conglomerate, in a single stage, and the sampling unit was the school. Physical activity was measured using the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (QAFA). The perceived environment scale was composed of 16 items and distributed in three dimensions: 1) accessibility and availability of places to practice physical activity (8 items); 2) traffic safety (3 items); and 3) urban security (5 items). In order to associate the characteristics of the environment with the groups of recreational activities, sports, physical exercises and commuting activities over the years of study, the generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used. In the base year of the study (2014), most adolescents were female (54.5%), with a mean age of 11.7 ± 0.7 years. Over the years, there was a linear trend towards a reduction in the average time spent practicing sports, recreation and commuting, except for physical exercise, and a linear trend towards an increase in the score for accessibility and availability of places, urban safety and traffic safety over the years. over the years of study. There was a positive association between the accessibility score and availability of places and the time practicing sports (β= 2.61; 95%CI 1.37; 3.85) and physical exercise (β= 0.68; 95%CI 0, 12; 1.24) and inverse association with the time of active commuting practice (β= -1.30; 95%CI -2.36; -0.24). It was concluded that adolescents who lived in neighborhoods with more places to practice physical activity and less distance from their residence were physically more active through the practice of sports and physical exercises. However, they were physically less active through commuting activities.