Perceived Barriers to Physical Activity of College Students in Manila, Philippines during the COVID-19 Community Quarantine: An Online Survey

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the physical activity barriers affecting college students and analyse how they differ between types of schools (private colleges-universities and government-state universities), and to improve schools'online distance learning physical education programmes in the Philippines. One hundred fifty (N=150) officially enrolled students participated in the study, from private and state universities, composed of athletes, non-athletes, and inactive athletes. With the use of the Barriers to Being Active Quiz, comprising seven (7) barriers (Lack of Time (LT), Social Influence (SI), Lack of Energy (LE), Lack of Willpower (LW), Fear of Injury (FI), Lack of Skill (LS) and Lack of Resources (LR)), responses were collected adapted through online administration. After the response collection, results show high mean scores in LR and significantly low scores in FI and LS barriers among private and state university students. Private and State University students differ from each other significantly (p<0.05) in the barriers SI, LW and LR, with state university students exhibiting greater mean scores. Active athletes possessed significantly lower scores during quarantine in most barriers (LT, SI, LE, LW, LS and LR), while inactive athletes exhibited the highest in FI. Further studies and examination of online physical education programmes are recommended to help students counter the reduced physical activity during quarantine, aside from strengthening government encouragement to those without access to exercise opportunities. © 2021 Montenegrin Sports Academy. All rights reserved.