Exploring social and school support for physical activity during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in youth

Objectives: This study aimed to explore social and school support for physical activity during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in adolescents, to investigate how those young people interacted with their school environment during the spring 2020 lockdown, and to examine how this could have impacted their practice of physical activity. This study also meant to provide an international perspective to these outcomes. Methods: Between December 2020 and March 2021, 2,948 Canadian and 1,356 Belgian high school students completed an online questionnaire assessing their perceived change in physical activity, their interaction with schools regarding physical activity, and the physical activity-related resources offered to them by their schools. Results: During the spring lockdown, most of the participants from both Canada and Belgium perceived a decrease in their practice of physical activity in comparison to prior to the spring lockdown, reporting important barriers caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, significant decrease in the proportion of participants reporting a strong or a very strong support was observed during the spring lockdown for family, friends, community, and school. Finally, most of the participants indicated that they did not have contact with any of the school team members to discuss about physical activity during that period. Conclusion: Results of the present study describe a perceived decrease in adolescents physical activity levels an unsatisfactory overall picture of the social and school support provided to them during the spring 2020 lockdown, encouraging to take a step back and reflect on subsequent adapted strategies.