News

Activity anxiety? COVID-19 impact on Auckland’s Asian communities

<h2>A report into the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on physical activity across Asian communities in T&amacr;maki Makaurau is providing insights to help the sport and recreation sector understand its new normal&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Undertaken by Regional ActivAsian Partners Aktive&comma; CLM Community Sport&comma; Harbour Sport&comma; Sport Auckland and Sport Wait&amacr;kere&comma; the online survey explored the effect of COVID-19 restrictions on Asian communities’ physical activity and wellbeing&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Report coordinator and ActivAsian Development Manager Alvin Cheung outlines the research and resulting report&comma; &&num;8220&semi;The purpose of the research is to provide insights into how Asian communities have been engaging in sport and physical activity through COVID-19 Level 4 lockdowns&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;These insights will be used to improve the accessibility and quality of play&comma; active recreation and sport experiences&comma; and to build resilience for our Asian communities&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>The research applied a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodology in the form of a survey designed to gather insights into Asian communities’ participation in sport and physical activity before and during the lockdown&period; It looked at barriers and enablers to being physically active and included <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;developing-opportunities-at-school-with-a-view&sol;" title&equals;"opportunities" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">opportunities<&sol;a> for additional comments&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Focused on Asian communities in T&amacr;maki Makaurau&comma; the survey was voluntary&comma; anonymous and available in English&comma; Chinese&comma; Korean and Japanese&period; It was open to any person who identified themselves as &&num;8220&semi;Asian&&num;8221&semi;&comma; with a total of 319 respondents completing the survey&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Cheung outlines some key findings&comma; noting COVID-19 and its resulting lockdown measures have had a powerful impact on Asian communities’ overall wellbeing and their participation in sport and physical activities&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Asian communities have developed an increased focus or interest in physical activity and wellbeing &lbrack;during&rsqb; Level 4 lockdown in August 2021&period; Participants who developed exercise habits prior to the lockdown were more likely to be physically active during lockdown than those who had not&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;In addition&comma; Asian communities express a strong need for services to improve their mental health&comma; enrich knowledge on nutrition&comma; and increase opportunities to enhance social connectedness&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As the report notes&comma; while Asian communities expressed an increased interest in physical activity during lockdown&comma; there was not a correlating increase in actual physical activity levels&period; The researchers&comma; comprising Cheung&comma; Husmit Uka&comma; ActivAsian Community Leader&comma; Harbour Sport and Sherry Xue&comma; ActivAsian Community Coordinator&comma; Sport Auckland&comma; note this &OpenCurlyQuote;paradox’ is a potential area for future study&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Cheung added&colon; &&num;8220&semi;For our communities&comma; barriers to participation in sport and physical activities during lockdown include lack of motivation&comma; exercise goals&comma; habits and time&semi; being occupied with other commitments&semi; and undesirable weather&semi; as well as COVID-19 and lockdown restrictions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Enablers over the same period include availability of time&comma; exercise equipment and sport gear&semi; digital exercise resources&semi; companionship&semi; improved mental and physical health&semi; and being close to facilities&comma; such as parks&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A key insight from this report is how one person’s barrier can be another person’s motivator&colon; for some respondents&comma; heightened anxiety encouraged them to get in some physical activity&comma; while other people noted their anxiety prevented them from exercising&period; Likewise&comma; some people found they worked more at home&comma; and therefore had less time for exercise &&num;8211&semi; while others found working from home freed up enough time for them to get in a daily walk or exercise class&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For the full report on the Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions on the Physical Activity Level of Asian Communities across T&amacr;maki Makaurau Auckland&comma; click <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;harboursport&period;co&period;nz&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2022&sol;04&sol;ActivAsian&lowbar;Impact-of-COVID-19-Final-Report&period;pdf" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">here<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Established by Harbour Sport in 2009&comma; ActivAsian is a collaborative regional project aimed at addressing issues facing Asian communities in participating in sport&comma; recreation and physical activity in the Auckland region&period; With partners <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;aktive&period;org&period;nz&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Aktive<&sol;a>&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;clmnz&period;co&period;nz&sol;clm-community-sport&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">CLM Community Sport<&sol;a>&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;harboursport&period;co&period;nz&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Harbour Sport<&sol;a>&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sportauckland&period;org&period;nz&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Sport Auckland<&sol;a> and <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sportwaitakere&period;co&period;nz&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Sport Wait&amacr;kere<&sol;a>&comma; the initiative’s vision is for the Asian community to be activated&comma; advocated for and represented at community levels across play&comma; sport and active recreation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Explore our latest issue...
School News

School News is not affiliated with any government agency, body or political party. We are an independently owned, family-operated magazine.

Recent Posts

Union considers legal action over cuts to resource teachers

NZEI Te Riu Roa is considering legal action against the government for the disestablishment of…

2 weeks ago

NZQA: AI-marking now a reality

NZQA is implementing AI-marking for all Year 10 written assessments from this year onwards, following…

2 weeks ago

Financial literacy is about more than personal responsibility – wealth and inequality should be part of the new curriculum

Teaching personal financial responsibility isn't enough. Children should be taught broader economic context, argue New…

2 weeks ago

Achieving optimal sound quality in education spaces

When students can't hear the teacher, they can't learn properly. Sound quality matters in education…

2 weeks ago

Discover Ōtautahi Christchurch and its learning opportunites

The Garden City is rich with learning opportunities, no matter what subject or part of…

2 weeks ago

School leaders share stories for Unteach Racism project

Teaching Council of Aotearoa launch school leaders’ stories project with Unteach Racism to challenge institutional…

3 weeks ago