PHYSICAL ACTIVITY LEVELS IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHERS BEFORE AND DURING SCHOOL SUSPENSION BROUGHT BY THE COVID-19 QUARANTINE

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to compare the physical activity (PA) levels in physical education (PE) teachers before and during school suspension brought by the COVID-19 quarantine. Thirty-seven PE teachers participated in the descriptive cross-sectional comparative methodological design study. In order to evaluate the PA levels, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was applied. As a statistical method, the equality of variance was calculated using the Student t test for independent samples. The results revealed less total PA MET-minutes/week in PE teachers (p=.005), with a percentage difference of 69.8 Δ%, during the COVID-19 quarantine compared to the state before the COVID-19 pandemic. PE teachers are considered professionals who help public health by reducing sedentary lifestyle in society. In that context, decrement in PA level, i.e., their inactivity determined during the COVID-19 pandemic is unacceptable.