Can a Multicomponent-Overnight Camp Increase Physical Activity Among Danish Children? A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

In Denmark, most children are not sufficiently physically active and only a few interventions have been found to increase long-term physical activity among overweight and obese children. The aim of our study was to investigate if children are physically active in correspondence to Danish recommendations after attending a multicomponent-overnight camp. A questionnaire was developed to estimate children's physical activity level and behavior and investigate how transport, economy, availability, time, motivation, and knowledge about physical activity affect children's physical activity level and behavior. In this study, 60.9% of the children did vigorous physical activity (VPA) minimum 30minutes 3times per week up to 3 years after camp. Most children were physically active at a sports club (44.3%) and only 5.7% of the children did not participate in physical activity. Parental physical activity and child motivation toward physical activity were significantly (P < .05) associated with children doing VPA. Our findings suggest that 60.9% of children who attended camp engage in VPA after camp, which compared with a recent Danish study, is more frequent than children who did not attend camp. Further investigations are needed to determine the long-term health effects in children attending interventions such as multicomponent-overnight camps.