Influence of Session Context on Physical Activity Levels Among Russian Girls During a Summer Camp

ABSTRACT

Purpose: This study investigated the effect of summer camp session context on Russian girls’ physical activity (PA). Method: Girls (n = 32, M_age = 10.7 years, SD = 0.6 years) from a resident summer camp taking place in the Vologda Region of Russia were exposed to 1 session context/day (i.e., free play, organized with no choice, organized with choice) on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for 3 weeks, with the context order counterbalanced across the 3 weeks. The organized session sport/game changed weekly. The primary outcome was accelerometer-assessed PA. Repeated-measures mixed models were used to analyze all outcome data. Results: Findings showed that girls spent a greater percentage of session time (%time) in moderate-to-vigorous PA (p < .001; effect sizes between free play and organized with no choice and organized with choice, respectively = .60, .42) and moderate PA (p < .001; effect size = .57, .39) and a lower %time in light PA (p < .001; effect size = .55, .52) in organized PA contexts compared with free play. Conclusions: This study provides novel findings in a Russian setting, suggesting that a well-planned, organized camp session can elicit higher PA levels in girls, relative to a free-play session.

KEYWORDS:

• Children
• out-of-school
• sport
• youth

Acknowledgments

We appreciate the willingness of the participants for their participation in this study, and we are grateful to the staff of the summer camp for allowing us to conduct this study at their location.

Funding

This work was supported by a Fulbright Scholarship awarded to Natalia Rodicheva.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a Fulbright Scholarship awarded to Natalia Rodicheva.