The Study Of Lockdown And Sedentarism Due To (Covid-19) Pandemic In Children And Adolescent With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Oral Presentation
Paper ID : 1869-12THCONG
Authors
1University Of Guilan- Rasht- Iran
2University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented health crisis that has forced many people to stay at home and self-isolate for a period of time. COVID-19 seems to be having a major impact on physical activity and mental health worldwide. The majority of the population most affected this crisis are children and adolescents with autism. Because of physical, physiological and cognitive-behavioral conditions caused by their disorder and also due to inactivity related to lack of opportunity to participate in sport and physical activities, they are very affected the condition of this crisis. The purpose of this study was evaluation the changes in Physical Activity levels and factors associated with PALs among children and adolescent with autism in the Coronavirus pandemic. Research model was explanatory and qualitative methodology via Qualitative Semi-structured interview. The samples include 30 parents who having children with ASD according to the DSM-5 criteria (9-15 years), who participated voluntarily in one-to-one semi-structured phone calls interview.3 issues have been investigated:
1. The perception of parents about physical activity
2. Barriers to physical activity at this pandemic time
3. Recommendations for parents regarding physical activity
According to parents statement, the physical activity of their children during this period has significantly decreased compared to before the covid19 pandemic. They also experienced weight gain, increased anxiety, stereotypes behavior, and decreased orderliness, communication interactions, and effective social skills. The parents stated, when their child attended to exercise program, they was more cheerful, more adaptable, more law-abiding, and communicated more verbally. The results revealed that parents believe that physical activities have positive effects on the development of physical health and behavior on their children with ASD. But also they reported barriers to their children's participation in physical activity during this pandemic, therefore they expressed suggestions and expectations to the children's physical educators. As a conclusion, encouraging children and adolescents with autism to participate in daily physical activity and sport and support via parents and adaptive physical educators is a very important factor to promoting their physical and behavioral health and development their independent performance and quality of life.
1. The perception of parents about physical activity
2. Barriers to physical activity at this pandemic time
3. Recommendations for parents regarding physical activity
According to parents statement, the physical activity of their children during this period has significantly decreased compared to before the covid19 pandemic. They also experienced weight gain, increased anxiety, stereotypes behavior, and decreased orderliness, communication interactions, and effective social skills. The parents stated, when their child attended to exercise program, they was more cheerful, more adaptable, more law-abiding, and communicated more verbally. The results revealed that parents believe that physical activities have positive effects on the development of physical health and behavior on their children with ASD. But also they reported barriers to their children's participation in physical activity during this pandemic, therefore they expressed suggestions and expectations to the children's physical educators. As a conclusion, encouraging children and adolescents with autism to participate in daily physical activity and sport and support via parents and adaptive physical educators is a very important factor to promoting their physical and behavioral health and development their independent performance and quality of life.
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