DEVELOPMENT OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PROGRAM DURING SITUATION OF CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK TO ENHANCE PHYSICAL FITNESS FOR ORPHANED AND POOR CHILDREN AT CHAO BOON KERD TEMPLE, ANG THONG PROVINCE

Abstract

The situation of epidemic of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID - 19) affects the sufficient physical activity of the general children and orphans and poor children at Chao Boon Kerd Temple, Ang Thong Province. It is therefore urgently necessary to develop a physical activity program to enhance physical fitness. The research objectives were to 1) study current conditions, problems, and needs for physical activity; 2) develop a physical activity program; 3) study the use of the physical activity program, using a mixed research methodology and participatory action research. The sample group consisted of 3 groups 1) studying the current conditions, problems and needs for physical activity of 88 orphans. 2) developing the program by 13 community partners, 5 teachers of Chao Boon Kerd Temple School, and 29 volunteers who led physical activities as orphans at Chao Boon Kerd Temple at the secondary level. 3) studying the use of the program for orphans at the elementary level. There were 54 people selected by purposive sampling. The research tools consisted of 1) a program quality assessment form, the consistency index was 0.86 - 100; 2) a satisfaction assessment form the consistency index was 0.89 - 0.97; 3) a physical fitness test for children aged 7-18 of Thai Health. Analyzed the physical fitness for health, before and after participating using the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test statistics and content analysis. The results showed that 1) the current condition did not appear to promote physical activity, and the physical activity of orphans was low. The problems were the lack of knowledge and leadership, resulting in decreased physical movement. The requirement was the correct exercise activities with interesting equipment; 2) program development results: the quality of the program was high (4.48); 3) the results of using the program for 8 weeks showed that after the experiment, the orphans had better physical performance in each aspect than before the experiment. Physical activity can guideline for developing the physical activity of orphans in the situation of the coronavirus epidemic.