Introduction: Low levels of physical activity among children are a significant public health concern in several industrialized nations. The current research body has failed to gather adequate information on various geographic regions. Understanding barriers and facilitators in different rural regions is imperative for creating successful physical activity interventions for children in rural areas. The purpose of this study is to explore rural children's perspectives on physical activity and to discuss barriers or facilitators to physical activity participation in rural Northwestern Ontario, Canada. Methods: Children (n=84) in Grades 4-8 (ages 8-14 years) in rural Northwestern Ontario participated in focus groups to discuss barriers and facilitators to physical activity. Twenty focus groups were conducted in schools. The focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. Subthemes were created based on the explicit content of the data and grouped to form broader themes. Results: Three key themes were identified: environment, social environment, and perceptions of safety. Environmental features include weather and the built environment. Social environment includes the role of friends and adults to either facilitate or restrict children's play. The fear of wildlife was pervasive across all focus groups and resulted in restricted independent mobility and physical activity. Conclusion: Rural children are typically under-represented in physical activity research. The findings of this study reveal that rural children experience some barriers to physical activity that are distinct from those of urban children. The findings suggest that researchers need to understand contextual nuances of the rural environment. Specific to the setting of Northwestern Ontario, these rural children could benefit from the addition of a skate park, indoor places to play, and more wildlife education.

Most Canadian children are not meeting the recommended 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day. Research suggests that children’s perceptions of their environment have an influence on their physical activity behaviours, but there is a lack of generalizability among previous work. The purpose of this study was to assess the mediating effect of children’s perceptions of barriers to physical activity on the relationship between their environments and their level of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (measured with accelerometers). Structural equation modelling stratified by gender was used to assess the research objective in a sample of 546 participants aged 8–14 years old from Northwestern and Southwestern Ontario, Canada. In both models stratified by gender, perceptions of barriers did not significantly mediate the relationship between urbanicity and physical activity. Independent of all other factors, there was no significant relationship between urbanicity and physical activity in girls, but there was in boys. These results offer insight into potential processes by which perceptions impact physical activity and provide initial information to further our understanding of the behavioural aspects of physical activity through multiple levels of analysis. Researchers must continue to improve efforts for quantifying the experience of children’s daily activity contexts.

The aim of this study was to examine potential child-level and day-level factors of accelerometer-measured sedentary time in a sample of rural Canadian children. Children (n = 86) from rural Northwestern Ontario participated in this study. Children’s sedentary times were identified and logged using an accelerometer. Child-level data (socio-demographic, household, and environment) came from surveys of children and their parents and a passively logging global positioning unit. Day-level data on day type (weekday/weekend) and weather (temperature, precipitation) were based on the dates of data collection and meteorological data came from the closest Environment Canada weather station. Cross-classified regression models were used to assess the relationship between child-level and day-level correlates of sedentary time. Boys were less sedentary than girls (b = −30.53 p = 0.01). For each one-year age increase, children’s sedentary time increased (b = 12.79 p < 0.01). This study indicates a difference in sedentary time based on a child’s age and gender. However, family, environmental, and weather characteristics did not influence sedentary time in this sample. Health practitioners who deliver care for northern rural youth can provide targeted health advice regarding sedentary time and consider gender and age to be risk factors for these behaviors.

The purpose of this study was to measure the factors that influence children’s moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during school curriculum time, recess time, and outside school time in a rural area. During the Fall and Winter of 2016, 34 boys and 55 girls aged 8–14 years from rural communities in rural Northwestern Ontario participated in the Spatial Temporal Environment and Activity Monitoring project. The children’s MVPA was measured using an accelerometer, and child-level demographic, behavioral, and environmental data were gathered from surveys, passively logging global positioning units, and municipal datasets. Data on daily temperature and precipitation were gathered from the closest Environment Canada weather station. A mixed model was used to assess the relationship between child- and day-level factors and children’s MVPA. On average, children were getting 12.9 min of MVPA during recess, 17.7 min during curriculum time, and 29.0 min of MVPA outside school time. During all three time points, boys were more active than girls. During curriculum time, children in lower grades were more active, and the weather had differing impacts depending on the time of day. The findings of this study illustrate the differences in MVPA and the factors that influence MVPA by time of day. Examining different time segments provides valuable information for understanding children’s MVPA patterns.