| Physical activity participation in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders in Iran |
| Paper ID : 1753-SSRC-13TH |
| Authors |
|
Sarvin salar *1, Hasan Daneshmandi2, Lauren j Lieberman3, Ali KASHI4, shahram shafiee5 1دانشگاه گیلان 2Department of Sport Injuries and Corrective Exercise, Faculty of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran. 3The state university of new york. College at Brockport 4دبیر علمی همایش 5Department of Sports Management, Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran |
| Abstract |
| Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopment disorder. the level of physical activity in children and adolescents with autism spectrum is lower than their typically development peers. the main purpose of this study is the investigation the level of physical activity in children and adolescents with autism spectrum in Iran. Materials and Methods The present research type is descriptive and survey method. The statistical samples include 370 children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders in both sex (233 boys and 137 girls) and in the age of 8 to 20 years who were selected through simple sampling. we used the International Standard Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children and the International Standard Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents. These are two 7-days self-report questionnaires that measure the level of moderate to severe physical activity. The questionnaires sent electronically to families with children with autism spectrum. Finally, descriptive and inferential statistical methods with SPSS23 software were used to analyze the data. Results The results showed that 73.8% of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder reported sedentary activities during the last 7 days and only 17.8% of them were active occasionally (1 to 2 times per week). 6.5% (3 to 4 times last week) participated in physical activity and 1.1% (5 to 6 times last week) participated in physical activity. Also during the last seven days on weekends, 58/2% reported sitting, 22/2% walking or standing, and 14.6% running or active playing and only 1.1% reported lots of running or playing. Also, there was no significant difference between girls and boys in participation in physical activity. Discussion and conclusion The results of this study showed Iranian children and adolescents with ASD have low levels of participation in physical activities. Physical activity participation is associated with mental, social and physical health benefits. It seems that the results of the present study would be a positive step towards identifying physical activity patterns in children and adolescents with ASD and can be a helpful for considerable efforts to promotion of participation in physical activity. |
| Keywords |
| autism spectrum disorders, physical activity, children, adolescents, Iran |
| Status: Abstract Accepted (Oral Presentation) |
