Effects of the Physical Activity Promotion Program on the Physical Fitness of Children with Chronic Illness at Sena Hospital, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya

Abstract

Children and youths aged 5 – 17 years old are the groups that need the most physical activity time compared with other groups, but in the current situation, children aged 12 – 13 years old have insufficient physical activity. The group of children with chronic illness had less physical activity than other groups due to health limitations.  Therefore, proper and safe physical activities must be organized by knowledgeable people. The organized activities must be appropriate for the condition of the sick child for each disease group. This study is Quasi-experimental research using One-Group Pretest- Posttest Design. The aim of this study was to compare the physical fitness of chronically ill children before and after receiving the physical activity promotion program. The sample group of children with chronic illnesses aged 3–15 years old consisted of 40 patients that received treatment at Sena Hospital, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya between October 20^th, 2019 and March 31^st, 2020. The promotion program consisted of educating children on appropriate exercises for them, teaching them to take the pulse, teaching them to count the breaths in one minute, and practicing light exercises such as sit-to-stand, walking, rhythmic dancing, and stretching by allowing parents and public health personnel to participate. In this study, physical fitness was measured eight times with three degrees of activity endurance: low, medium, and high.  The results showed that the level of activity tolerance after the program was statistically different from before the program at the .05 level (x²= 22.5608, p = .0001) The suitable physical activity promotion program for chronically ill children with recreational activities influenced the ill children and their parents to cooperate continuously that increased physical performance as measured by activity tolerance. Therefore, it is recommended that the physical activity support program be used in organizing activities for children with chronic illnesses to increase their physical fitness.