Maintaining Physical Activity Levels of Teachers in a Summer Intervention.

摘要

Schools are in a premier position to promote physical activity programs with students, faculty and staff, and the surrounding community. Since individuals of working age spend a significant portion of their lives in their work environment the workplace potentially represents a convenient, efficient, and effective access point to the individual (McGillivray, 2005). One recent suggestion in the literature discusses the need for physical education teacher education programs to help make physical educators Sport, Physical Activity, and Fitness Education Specialists (Bulger & Housner, 2009). This new role would place physical educators as potential leaders in schools for the promotion of a worksite-wellness model that could be adopted by educational facilities. The purpose of this study was to determine if a physical education teacher could maintain and generalize physical activity behaviors of teachers during summer recess, after they were participants in an on-site worksite wellness exercise class administered by the physical education teacher. Using a stimulus fading approach the physical education teacher served in a new and dynamic role to maintain physical activity within teachers. Evidence of this study indicated that physical educators could serve as physical activity specialist in schools as they promote and change the physical activity level of teachers. This study also found that the use of technology can help in generalizing physical activity behaviors of teachers over summer recess.;Keywords: Comprehensive school physical activity program, physical activity interventions, work-site wellness, faculty and staff, physical education, stimulus fading.