ABSTRACT
INTRODUÇÃO: Programas de promoção da atividade física têm empregado o pedômetro como instrumento de quantificação de passos diários acumulados pelos participantes. Entretanto, praticamente inexiste a caracterização de padrões habituais de passos de trabalhadores brasileiros. OBJETIVO: Caracterizar o padrão usual de passos caminhados por servidores públicos com atividade profissional administrativa. MÉTODOS: Foram avaliados 46 voluntários (24% homens), com média de idade e índice de massa corporal (IMC) de 39,5±7,8 anos e IMC 24,0±3,0 kg/m2, selecionados aleatoriamente em um órgão do Poder Judiciário, em Brasília-DF. Para quantificação dos passos empregou-se pedômetro Digi-Walker-SW700, consecutivamente nos 7 dias da semana, para todo o grupo e segundo o nível de atividade física e gênero. As comparações empregaram os testes de Kruskal-Wallis e de Mann-Whitney quando apropriados e a relação entre o IMC e o número de passos foi verificada pela correlação de Spearman (rs). RESULTADOS: A mediana (extremos) de passos diários foi de 7266 (1630 13714). Não houve diferença entre o número de passos acumulados nos dias úteis (DU) (7508; 2038 15109) e nos finais de semana/feriados (FS/F) (6674; 747 14918) (p = 0,46). O mesmo se observou na comparação dos passos entre DU e FS/F nos indivíduos ativos (p=0,17), sedentários (p=0,99), homens (p=0,87) e mulheres (p=0,58). Houve correlação negativa entre o IMC e os passos acumulados nos FS/F (rs= -0,35;p=0,02), mas não nos DU (rs= -0,01;p=0,94). CONCLUSÕES: O número usual de passos diários da amostra estudada mostrou mediana significativamente menor que o referencial recomendado de 10.000 passos, com distintos padrões quanto ao gênero e atividade física dos indivíduos. Descritores: atividade física, pedômetro, número de passos diários, sedentarismo.
BACKGROUND: Pedometers have been used in physical activity programs as a measurement tool for quantification of the participants accumulated daily steps. However, the characterization of habitual daily steps patterns of Brazilian workers' is practically inexistent. OBJECTIVE: To characterize the usual daily steps pattern of civil servants with administrative professional activity. METHODS: Forty six volunteers (24% men), age and body mass index (BMI) average ± SD of 39.5±7.8 yrs and 24.0±3.0 kg/m2, were randomly selected from a Federal Court institution, in Brasília-DF. Daily steps were recorded with the Digi-Walker-SW700 pedometer, consecutively in the 7 days of the week, for the whole group and according to the baseline physical activity level and the gender. For all the comparisons Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests were used when appropriate and the relationship between BMI and the number of daily steps was analyzed by the Spearman's correlation (rs). RESULTS: Median (lower and upper limits) of daily steps was 7266 (1630 - 13714). There was no difference between the number of accumulated steps in the week days (WD) (7508; 2038 - 15109) and in the weekend/holidays (WK/H) (6674; 747 - 14918) (p = 0.46). The same was observed in the comparison between WD versus WK/H in the active subjects (p=0.17), in sedentary (p=0.99), in men (p=0.87) and in women (p=0.58). There was a negative correlation between BMI and the accumulated steps on WK/H (rs = -0.35;p=0.02), but not on the WD (rs = -0.01;p=0.94). CONCLUSIONS: The usual number of daily steps of the studied sample showed median significantly smaller than the recommended 10.000 steps/day target, with different patterns as for the gender and the individuals' physical activity level.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Adult , Motor Activity , Sedentary Behavior , Walking , Public SectorABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of individual feedback intervention (IFB) or general video intervention (GV) on promoting daily physical activity. One hundred and thirty-six community-dwelling people volunteered as subjects and participated in the 2-month walking program provided as a correspondence course. The subjects were randomly allocated to one of four groups, which consisted of either IFB or GV. Each of the groups was based on behavioral science. The stage of change in exercise, self-efficacy for exercise and daily physical activity were measured before and after intervention 4 months later during the follow-up period. There were statistically significant effects of both ‘time’ (F=3.71, p=0.026) and ‘time’בIFB’ (F=3.76, p=0.025) in self-efficacy for exercise; while there was no significant effect of interaction between ‘time’בGV’. As for daily physical activity, there was no significant effect of the interaction both of ‘time’בIFB’ and ‘time’בGV’. These results suggest the IFB of promoting self-efficacy for exercise.