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Time use, quality of life and compliance to integrated activity guidelines in adolescent international students
Author
Yuvaraj Turiahdassu
Supervisor
Chia, Michael
Abstract
This study comprised two parts. The objective of part 1 is to develop a common time use surveillance tool (Adolescent-smalQ) that is appropriate, valid, and reliable for the context of the research. The Association of Medical Education in Europe (AMEE) Guide No. 87 guided the development of Adolescent-smalQ that aimed to examine the prevalence of adolescents in meeting The Singapore Integrated 24-Hour Activity Guidelines for Children and Adolescents. These guidelines include (i) sleep of at least 9 hours (for 7-13 years old), at least 8 hours (for 14-17 years old), and at least 7 hours (for 18 years old), (ii) ≥ 60 minutes of Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA) daily, (iii) ≥ 80% adherence to the Singapore Health Promotion Board (HPB) “My Healthy Plate” and (iv) the Canadian 24-hour movement guidelines for recreational Screen Time (ST) of ≤ 2 hours daily. The objective of part 2 is to examine the time use of international schools’ adolescents studying in Singapore and their adherence to the 24-hour integrated activity guidelines and their quality of life. The participants were 555 adolescents (mean age: 15.7 ± 1.4 years, mean Body Mass Index (BMI) of 20.2 ± 3.6, 56.4% female) from two international schools in Singapore. Male and female mean nighttime sleep duration was significantly different on weekdays (7.3 hr vs 6.8 hr, F (1,547) = 18.26, p <.05, partial ŋ2 = .032) but not on weekends (8.6 hr for both genders, F (1, 547) = 0.01, p >.05, partial ŋ2 = .000). However, mean MVPA was significantly different for male and female on weekday (2.2 hr vs 1.8 hr, F (1,547) = 5.26, p <.05, partial ŋ2 = .010), and weekend (1.6 hr vs 1.3 hr, F (1,548) = 15.05, p <.05, partial ŋ2 = .030). No differences were found between male and female mean ST for weekday (6.4 hr vs 6.8 hr, F (1,548) = 2.38, p >.05, partial ŋ2 = .004) and weekend (7.1 hr vs 7.5 hr, F (1,546) = 2.58, p >.05, partial ŋ2 = .005). The prevalence of adolescents meeting all four guidelines (sleep, MVPA, ST and diet) was 6% with 23.6% meeting three and 37.1% meeting at least two guidelines. Meeting all four guidelines was associated with higher mean PedsQLTM score (m = 78.7, 95% CI:74.7, 82.8) compared to meeting none (m = 65.3, 95% CI:59.0, 79.6). In summary, meeting more guidelines was attributed to having a higher mean PedsQLTM score, p=<.05. The correlation between the number of guidelines met and PedsQLTM (total health) score was found to be slightly positive r(555)=.24, p=0.01. Efforts to educate parents, caregivers, educators and adolescents on the importance of the Singapore 24-hour integrated activity guidelines is recommended to promote healthy lifestyle behaviours and increased wellbeing in today's adolescents.
Date Issued
2023
Call Number
LB2376.6.S55 Tur
Date Submitted
2023