Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Serious Games
Date Submitted: Aug 5, 2022
Date Accepted: Mar 13, 2023
Date Submitted to PubMed: Mar 23, 2023
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
A longitudinal study of exergaming among young adults in Canada
ABSTRACT
Background:
Exergaming may be an important option to support an active lifestyle during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Objective:
The objectives of this study were to: (i) explore whether change in exergaming status (stopped, started, stable and never exergamed) from before to during the pandemic related to change in walking or moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA); and (ii) among past-year exergamers only, describe change in minutes exergaming/ week from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods:
The sample included 681 participants (M(SD)age=33.6 (0.5), 41% male) from the 22- year NDIT study who provided data on walking, MVPA, and exergaming in cycles 23 (2017-20) and 24 (2021). Physical activity (PA) change scores, including exergaming change scores, were computed by subtracting number of minutes/ week for each PA indicator in cycle 23 from minutes/ week in cycle 24, were described by exergaming status from before to during the pandemic.
Results:
Regardless of exergaming status, both minutes walking and engaging in MVPA declined by 30 minutes/ week from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two-thirds participants (62.4%) were stable non-exergamers, 8.2% started exergaming during the pandemic, 19.7% stopped, and 9.7% were stable exergamers. Stable exergamers increased exergaming by a median 60 minutes/ week during the pandemic. Starters reported 85 minutes of exergaming/week during the pandemic.
Conclusions:
Exergaming may not have been enough to maintain pre-pandemic PA levels however exergaming can contribute to a substantial proportion of total PA among young adults and may therefore represent a valuable option to promote PA during periods of confinement.
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