Abstract

RUBIO SILVA, María Nancy; CORDOBA RENTERIA, Libardo  and  OREJUELA ARISTIZABAL, Diego Fernando. Perceived barriers and level of physical activity in colombian university students during the COvID-19 pandemic. Pensar en Movimiento [online]. 2023, vol.21, n.2, e51144. ISSN 1659-4436.  http://dx.doi.org/10.15517/pensarmov.v21i2.51144.

The COvID-19 pandemic led to the adoption of new lifestyles that involve risks for physical and mental health, in addition to altering routines in the family, in society, in the workplace and in the academic context. Those students that entered the university during the pandemic faced a new educational system, and the result is that the behavior of the practice of physical activity during this time is unknown. The objective of the present research was to identify perceived barriers and the level of physical activity in first-semester university students at the university-level entity Escuela Nacional del Deporte, in Colombia. For this purpose, a quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out, in which 381 students participated—258 in physiotherapy and 123 in professional sports, enrolled in the second term of 2020 and the first term of 2021. The data gathering instruments were the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) and the Barriers to Being Active Quiz (BBAQ). The results showed that 55.64% of the participants reported low levels of physical activity, with higher percentages in the physiotherapy group; 85.79% showed at least one barrier to practicing physical activity, with statistically significant differences between the physiotherapy group and professional sports group in terms of the barriers of lack of time, will and social influence. In conclusion, it was possible to observe low levels of physical activity in the physiotherapy group as compared to the sports group, which reported higher levels of moderate and vigorous physical activity. In both groups, lack of time and lack of will were the most relevant perceived barriers, though in different percentages.

Keywords : students; physical activity; IPAQ; BBAQ; health.

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