Physical Activity Levels among Selected Public-school Children

Physical activity (PA) is essential for children's health, development, and well-being. However, there is a scarcity of data on PA indices for children and youth in Ghana. This paper assessed PA levels among school-aged children. The cross-sectional design was adopted in carrying out the study. A sample size of 110 respondents was drawn using the multi-stage sampling procedures comprising stratified and quota sampling techniques. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF) was adapted to collect primary quantitative data for the study. The instrument was subjected to face and content validation procedures through a pilot study and reliability was assessed, yielding a Cronbach Alpha coefficient of 0.75. The data was analyzed using descriptive analysis comprising frequency counts, percentages and inferential analysis of independent samples T-test. PA levels among the respondents were typically high. There was a significant difference in gender, (t = 357.73, df = 104, p < .05) with male school going children (M = 531.82, ±SD = 1.56) attaining significantly higher PA scores than female school going children (M = 331.44, ±SD = 3.10). In addition, 58.5 percent of respondents engaged in at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA every day, as recommended by the WHO. Investigation of the importance of activity intensity in younger children is needed. This study establishes the groundwork for future research on children's PA policies, practice, and research.