Child Physical Activity Patterns and Practices in Abu Dhabi

Principal Investigator: Dr Kassim Abdullah, United Arab Emirates University

Click here to participate in our survey

The purpose of this survey is to help us understand the practices and experiences of Abu Dhabi parents and their young children with regard to nutrition and physical activity. It is part of a research project that seeks to develop guidelines for healthy nutrition and physical activity tailored to the needs of Abu Dhabi’s children and their families.

In addition to the survey, we have also conducted short interviews with children aged 5-8 to learn their opinions on healthy nutrition and physical activity habits. Furthermore, by partnering with healthcare providers across the Emirate, including the Abu Dhabi Healthcare Company (SEHA), we supplied activity trackers to schoolchildren at schools across Abu Dhabi Emirate to collect additional quantitative data on exercise patterns as well as physical indicators such as height and weight.

The results of the survey will help contextualize and establish correlations within these quantitative data and provide insights into the needs of Abu Dhabi children and their families with regard to nutrition and exercise.

The survey you are invited to participate in is anonymous and all data is stored as per Abu Dhabi’s data protection policies.

Importance to Abu Dhabi: Findings from this study could be used to developed evidence-based strategies and interventions targeted at improving physical activity participation and encouraging healthy nutritional habits among children, reducing the prevalence of childhood obesity and overweight, establishing physical activity guidelines for children of determination which will be suited to their condition, and designing & developing physical activity curricula for children in Abu Dhabi which will be tailored to their needs.

Summary: This study aims to ascertain the prevalence, knowledge, and attitudes of both parents and children towards physical activity participation and healthy nutritional habits in Abu Dhabi Emirate. A mixed methods research approach has been employed for this study by obtaining both qualitative and quantitative data.

Research Team:
Kassim Abdullah: Project PI, Child safety researcher
Mohamed Elsadig: Project Co-PI, Child health researcher
Syed Shah: Project Co-Investigator, Child NCDs researcher
Muhammad Uba: Project Co-Investigator, Child safety researcher
Preetha Menon: Project Co-Investigator, Public health researcher
Aminu Abdullahi: Project Co-Investigator, Public health researcher
Point of contact: Dr Kassim Abdullah, kassim@uaeu.ac.ae