Drawing on Bernstein theory (1990, 1996) of pedagogic discourse, this study is aimed at exploring the construction of pedagogical meaning in physical education policy in Korea and providing critical implications for the development of policies for physical education and school sport. Both open-ended questionnaires (n=22) and in-depth interviews (n=9) were conducted. The collected data was commissioned by an inductive data analysis to look at patterns of regulative discourses embedded with physical education policy influencing on teachers’ educational practice. This study identified three main discourses constructing and constituting policies; sport, moral, and health. Sport discourse was the most dominant through the policy, in which two sub-discourses were central: ‘competition’ and ‘exclusion.’ Moral discourse had a strong connection with ‘crime reduction’ and ‘academic achievement.’ The structure of health discourse alleged increase in youth physical inactivity associated with sedentary living leads to an obesity epidemic. This study argued that there were significant dangers which dominant regulative discourses created a limited universe of possibilities for physical education. Therefore, we must not lose sight of the powerful discourses produced in the primary field, which have an impact on shaping forms of policy and practice in physical education. Furthermore, we need to examine in detail forms of physical education practice in order to achieve alignment in the school practice with current dominant discourses.
The present study has been carried out with a purpose of a long term estimation for the body size and BMI (Body Mass Index) of Korean children and youth using ARIMA, a time series model. In order to select an estimation model for the optimum time series, among the time series analysis method of SPSS22.0 statistic programs, a multivariate ARIMA (p,d,q) model has been selected that has an input series (physical education facility, time spent for physical education, animal source foods, GDP deflator, animal source food intake ratio), using annual average data of height, weight, and BMI data from 1965 to 2015. Among the several optimal measurements in ARIMA model with estimation variables, an optimal RMSE-based model (RMSE: Root Mean Square Error) has been selected. Using this model, the estimation model and estimated values of children’s height, weight, and BMI have been suggested for each age group. The results are as the following. The trend estimation of height follows a logistic curve, with both male and female groups showing increasing trends. The weight has a trend of increasing ratio higher than height. BMI also shows a trend curve similar to weight. The estimation model has been mostly ARIMA(0,1,0). In particular, the average BMI has been estimated as 22-23 for male students in 6th, 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th grade in 2030. This indicates the recent increasing obesity as children and youth occupy most of daily time for play culture that is far from physical activities, such as computer games, smartphone games, and video games at home.
Frailty in older adults is related to an increased risk for poor health outcomes including falls, disability, hospitalization and mortality. The purpose of this study was to determine the thresholds of a functional fitness associated with frailty for community-dwelling woman aged 65 or older. In this study, the National Fitness Award(NFA) items for elderly were utilized as the physical function and fitness testing for korean elderly women. The total of 444 community-dwelling woman completed the testings. Frailty status was classified by the Japan LTCI system ‘Kihon Checklist’ in the study. The prevalence of the frailty was 19.1% in the study. The frail elderly were older and showed higher obesity index such as weight, body mass index (BMI), percent body fat and waist circumference than the normal elderly. After adjusting for age and BMI which was related to frailty, fitness testing items were compared depending on frailty. As the result, the frail elderly showed significantly lower fitness levels in grip strength, 30-second chair stand test, timed up and go, figure-of-8 walk around two cones, and 2-minute step test than the normal elderly. When the fitness cut-off values were analyzed using the ROC curve, also, grip strength: 34.13%, 30-second chair stand test: 14 reps, timed up and go: 7.09 seconds, figure-of-8 walk around two cones: 30.88 seconds, and 2-minute step test: 93 reps. In addition, based on the cut-off values of each fitness item, the group with a low fitness level showed a 1.86 to 3.09 higher odds ratio of frailty than the group with a high fitness level, even after age and BMI were adjusted. In conclusion, these findings indicate that the fitness cut-off values in this study are fitness levels for preventing frailty of Korean elderly women and there will be a need for a large-scale study including subdivided fitness cut-off values for each age group and targets elderly men as well.
This study measured the accessibility of public exercise facilities within a residental area of a metropolitan community and examined how the accessibility can affect physical activity participation of residents. Initially, a total of 639 residents, who were aged between 19-70, visited Metabolic Syndrome Management Center of the Community Public Health Center, and registered for a Obesity Clinic Program, was listed as potential subjects. And those who responded to Physical Activity Questionnaire were selected for the analyses (n=92, 14.3% of 639). The relationships between physical activity level and accessibility to public exercise facilities were analyzed. Objective distance to public facility was related to ‘volume of participation to vigorous physical activity(r=.209)’, 'total volume of participation to physical activity(r=.206)’. And perceived distance to public facility was related to ‘volume of participation to vigorous-intensity physical activity(r=.235)’. perceived transport time to public facility was related to ‘duration of participation to vigorous-intensity physical activity(r=.239)’, ’volume of participation to vigorous-intensity physical activity(r=.306)’, and ‘volume of participation to total physical activity(r=.273)’. In contrast, the difference between objective distance to public facility and perceived subjective distance to the facility was negatively related to ‘duration of participation to moderate-intensity physical activity(r=-.221)’. The perceived numbers of public facility was positively related to ‘frequency of participation to vigorous-intensity physical activity(r=.237)’, ‘frequency of participation to walking(r=.273)’, ‘volume of participation to walking(r=.251)’ and 'total volume of participation to physical activity(r=.252)’. The predictor of 'total volume of participation to physical activity was perceived numbers of public facility(R2=.153, p=.046). The results revealed that the subjective accessibility to public health facilities was more influential to physical activity participation than the objective accessibility. Further research was warranted while using diverse populations as well as considering a inclusion of environmental factors.
PURPOSE This study investigated the impact of underweight and hand grip strength (HGS) levels on the risk of all-cause mortality in older adults. METHODS Data from the 2006 baseline and 2020 follow-up assessments of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA), involving 3,009 older Koreans (≥65 years) were used in the study. Participants were categorized based on body mass index (BMI) as underweight, normal, overweight, or obese and grouped according to the Asian Working Group Sarcopenia criteria into high or low HGS. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of all-cause mortality according to BMI and HGS categories. RESULTS During the 11.3±4.0 years follow-up period, 1,334 deaths from all causes occurred. The risk of death by BMI and HGS level was analyzed. The results showed that the risk of death in the overweight and high HGS group (HR=0.773, p=.016) was significantly lower than that in the normal weight & high HGS group (HR=1). In comparison, the risk of death in the underweight & low HGS group (HR=1.930, p<.001) and the normal weight & high HGS group (HR=1.225, p=.014) were significantly higher than normal weight & high HGS. However, the risk of death in the underweight and high HGS group showed no significant difference compared to the normal weight and high HGS group. CONCLUSIONS The current findings suggest that improving muscle strength through regular exercise may be important in preventing the risk of all-cause mortality due to being underweight.
The frailty, characterized by reduced physiological function is closely related to a fall, disability, institutionalization, hospitalization, and mortality in the elderly. A reduced physical fitness is a major phenotype of the frailty. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among pre-frailty, physical activity (PA) and functional fitness in the community dwelling elderly women. The study participants were elderly women (n=338, 70.6±4.2years) aged over 65 who took part in the Korean Healthy Fitness Criteria study for the National Fitness Award Project in 2015. The pre-frailty was defined using the Cardiovascular Health Study frailty criteria. PA was assessed using the International PA Questionnaire (IPAQ). The participants were classified as regular PA participants if they meet the World Health Organization (WHO) PA recommendation for the elderly. Functional fitness was assessed using the composite of the National Fitness Award fitness testing for the elderly. Quality of life was evaluated using EuroQoL visual analogue scale and WHO quality of life assessment. As the results, the pre-frail elderly women were significantly older and obese (body mass index, percent body fat, waist circumference) than the healthy elderly. The pre-frail elderly presented significant decreases in walking, moderate intensity, and total PA compared to the healthy elderly even after adjusted for age and percent body fat. However, no significant difference was found in vigorous-intensity activity between the pre-frail and healthy elderly. Also, the pre-frail elderly women showed the decrease in functional fitness and quality of life compared to the healthy elderly. Regular PA was associated with high levels of muscular endurance and coordination in healthy and pre-frail elderly. In pre-frail elderly, high levels of cardiorespiratory endurance was associated with PA. In conclusion, regular PA is inversely associated with fitness decline in healthy and pre-frail community-dwelling elderly women. Regular PA might attenuate fitness decline in pre-frail elderly women.
