Physical Activity, Medical Home, and Health Behavior Counseling Among Adolescents with Special Health Care Needs: NSCH 2016-2017.

OBJECTIVES

Aim 1 was to establish updated prevalence estimates for meeting national physical activity (PA) guidelines among adolescents with and without special healthcare needs (SHCN), 12-17 years old. To identify at-risk subgroups, our sub-aim was to compare the distribution of prevalence estimates across PA levels by SHCN subtypes, and in reference to peers without SHCN. Aim 2 was to examine the association between meeting PA guidelines, having a medical home, and receiving positive health behavior counseling in this population.

METHODS

Weighted prevalence estimates for meeting the 2018 National PA Guidelines (inactive, insufficiently active, sufficiently active: guidelines met) were calculated from a secondary analysis of the National Survey of Children's Health 2016-2017 ( n = 16,171, 27% SHCN). Adjusted odds ratios and 95% CIs were estimated from logistic regression models to measure the association between PA, medical home, and postive health behavior counseling.

RESULTS

Of adolescents with SHCN, 15% were reported to be meeting PA guidelines compared to 19% of peers without SHCN peers. Among adolescents with a medical home, regardless of SHCN status, those receiving positive health behavior counseling had 1.70 times the adjusted odds of meeting PA guidelines compared to peers without counseling.

CONCLUSIONS FOR PRACTICE

Adolescents with and without SHCN were more likely to meet PA guidelines if they had a medical home and received positive health behavior counseling, highlighting the value of comprehensive healthcare practices for PA promotion.