Projeto Vida Ativa: perfil do usuário e impacto das intervenções nos estilos de vida

Abstract

This study was developed in the Active Life Project (PVA), which is part of the Municipal Education and Sports Department (SMED) and proposes Physical Activity (PA) programs to the community of Pelotas/RS, focusing on health and quality of life. The general objective was to identify the profile of adult students participating in the PVA in urban and rural areas of the city of Pelotas/RS and its effect on lifestyle variables. The study was characterized as cross sectional epidemiological. The sample consisted of 475 students aged between 19 and 85 years, who attended PVA classes before Covid-19. For data collection, a semi-structured online questionnaire was developed using the Google Forms tool, consisting of demographic, socioeconomic, nutritional status, social indicators, lifestyle indicators (EV), variables related to PVA and Covid-19 impacts. Data were processed in the SPSS 22 program. The highest frequency of participants were female (95.2%), white (79.8%), married (57.4%) and aged 51 years or more of age (62.1%) and belonging to the lowest social classes. It was found that 89.3% attended activities in the urban area while 10.7% in the rural area. A large part of the sample (70.3%) was overweight or obese and 4.6% of the participants were smokers. As for comorbidities, 41.7% of the students were hypertensive and 13.5% had diabetes. It was found that 60.6% of the participants consumed some type of medication, of these, 34.3% observed a decrease in medication consumption after starting activities in the PVA. The arrival of the pandemic brought negative impacts on the variables: perception of health, practice of PA outside the PVA, and sedentary time. PA comprises an indispensable role in the participants' lives, since if the PVA did not exist, 68% of the participants would not perform PA and 62.7% stated that before the PVA they did not practice PA. As for the perception of effort, most of the sample considered the level of effort performed in the activities to be high. As for participation, 96.4% were satisfied with the PVA activities. There was a significant association between the variable income with hypertension (p=0.002) and drug use (p=0.001), where the poorest people had higher levels of hypertension and consume more drugs. There was a significant association between area of residence and hypertension (p=0.005), smoking (p=0.002) and consumption of medications (p=0.036), where people who lived in rural areas had lower rates of hypertension and practically did not do it. tobacco and drug use. Knowing the profile of students in their different contexts of life has an important implication in the definition of public policies, reaffirming the importance of maintenance and investments aimed at promoting PA and the health of the population in Pelotas.