Physical activity assessed in physical education class in disabled and nondisabled high school students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate physical activity in physical education class in disabled and non-disabled high school students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Participating subjects were high school students with an average age of 15.2 ± 5.7 years, 106 students without disabilities and 77 students diagnosed with disabilities, physical activity was evaluated before and during the COVID-19 pandemic using the international physics activity questionnaire IPAQ. Results: The analysis of variance (ANOVA) mixed 2 x 2 (groups x measurements), indicated that a statistically significant difference of p = .001 between the groups and p = .005 the measurements with the highest weekly energy expenditure of physical activity, in the student body without disabilities. Conclusions: When comparing the values with an investigation that used the same methodological procedure, students with disabilities report higher sedentary habits than schoolchildren undiagnosed with disabilities, during the COVID-19 pandemic.