WALES 2021 Active Healthy Kids (AHK) Report Card: The Fourth Pandemic of Childhood Inactivity

Amie B Richards; Kelly A Mackintosh; Nils Swindell; Malcolm Ward; Emily Marchant; Michaela James; Lowri C Edwards; Richard Tyler; Dylan Blain; Nalda Wainwright; Sarah Nicholls; Marianne Mannello; Kelly Morgan; Tim Evans; Gareth Stratton

doi:10.3390/ijerph19138138

WALES 2021 Active Healthy Kids (AHK) Report Card: The Fourth Pandemic of Childhood Inactivity

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jul 2;19(13):8138. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19138138.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Applied Sports, Technology, Exercise and Medicine (A-STEM) Research Centre, Swansea University, Swansea SA1 8EN, UK.
² Population Data Science, Medical School, Singleton Campus, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK.
³ Cardiff School of Sport and Health Sciences, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff CF23 6XD, UK.
⁴ Health Research Institute and Movement Behaviours, Nutrition, Health, Development, and Wellbeing Research Group, Department of Sport and Physical Activity, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk L39 4QP, UK.
⁵ Institute of Management and Health, Carmarthen Campus, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Carmarthen SA31 3EP, UK.
⁶ Department of Business, School of Management, Bay Campus, Swansea University, Swansea SA1 8EN, UK.
⁷ Play Wales, Park House, Greyfriars Road, Cardiff CF10 3AF, UK.
⁸ DECIPHer, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, SPARK, Cardiff CF24 4HQ, UK.
⁹ Sport Wales, Sport Wales National Centre, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff CF11 9SW, UK.

Abstract

This is the fourth Active Healthy Kids (AHK) Wales Report Card. The 2021 card produced grades on children and young people's physical activity (PA) using pre-COVID-19 data that were not used in previous versions. Eleven quality indicators of PA were graded through expert consensus and synthesis of the best available evidence. Grades were assigned as follows: Overall PA-F; Organised Sport and PA-C; Active Play-C+; Active Transportation-C-; Sedentary Behaviours-F; Physical Fitness-C-; Family and Peer Influences-D+; School-B-; Community and the Built Environment-C; National Government and Policy-C; and Physical Literacy-C-. All but three grades remained the same or decreased from the 2018 AHK-Wales Report Card (Active Play increased from C- to C+; Active Transportation, D+ to C-; Family and Peers, D to D+). This is concerning for children's health and well-being in Wales, particularly given recent evidence that PA has further decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results from the Report Card should be used to inform the decision making of policy makers, practitioners and educators to improve children and young people's PA levels and opportunities and decrease PA inequalities.

Keywords: children; community and environment; health; physical activity; play; policy; school; sedentary.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Child
Exercise
Health Policy
Health Promotion
Humans
Pandemics / prevention & control
Sedentary Behavior*

Grants and funding

This research was funded by The Waterloo Foundation, grant number 1158–4603. The APC was partially funded by an Early Career Researcher award to A.B.R. from the Paediatric Work Physiology Conference and by the Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarship (KESS), as the funder of A.B.R.’s PhD. It is a pan-Wales higher-level skills initiative led by Bangor University on behalf of the HE sector in Wales. It is in part funded by the Welsh Government’s European Social Fund (ESF) convergence programme for West Wales and the Valleys.