STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES IN SPORTS SCIENCES AND HEALTH PROMOTION PROGRAMS IN DIFFERENT POPULATIONS

In recent years, the population is becoming more sedentary and characterized by an increase in the mean age. One of the consequences is a population with a higher risk of chronic diseases, increasing the risk to incur in disability and death. Consequently, health promotion programs, cheaper than interventions, are acquiring an increasingly central role in the politics of Governments. Health promotion programs want to maintain and improve the physical, cognitive, psychical, and social sphere of people. Considering that psychic and social sphere are strictly dependent on the physical condition, the interest of this thesis was on motor tests ideal for health promotion programs. The motor evaluation can take place through laboratory and field tests. Laboratory tests, usually, are more reliable and valid while field tests can be adopted for a larger population, because they are more economic and quick to propose. Since health promotion is aimed at a general population, field tests were investigated. Furthermore, in other disciplines, replicable and precise protocols are adopted and these are named standard operating procedures (SOPs). Unfortunately, in the field of Sports Sciences, SOPs are still not widely adopted. For this reason, the Ph.D. project wanted to examine SOPs in Sports Sciences and health promotion programs in different populations such as young and older adults, and in a population with special needs. This was carried on through reviews of the literature (review, scoping review, and systematic review and meta-analysis) and original studies that evaluated the Grooved Pegboard Test (GPT). During Study 1, the use of SOPs was considered in a population composed of adolescents for the evaluation of the strength of the lower limbs through vertical jumps. The result of the review highlighted the lack of SOPs in vertical jumps and consequently, SOPs were proposed for the countermovement and the squat jump test. During Study 2, a visually impaired population practicing the sport of goalball was analysed using a scoping review of the literature. Field tests adopted in this sport are different and, consequently, SOPs were proposed for the evaluation of goalball players. 1 Study 3, through a systematic review of the literature and a meta-analysis on older adults, assessed whether SOPs existed for the assessment of people in dual-task situations. Again, SOPs did not exist and guidelines to execute in the most appropriate way the secondary tasks were proposed. Study 4 is a pilot study that analysed the influence of a secondary task on the execution of a test to evaluate manual dexterity, the GPT. In conclusion, it was noted that the performance of a cognitive task is more disturbing than a motor task. This study was carried on to provide SOPs for the GPT in a dual-task contest. Study 5 wanted to evaluate the influence that the time spent on smartphones has on the GPT execution. This study was performed to study if normative data created for the GPT had to be updated. The investigation concluded that in young adults, the time spent on the smartphone does not influence the time to conclude the GPT. During Study 6 was investigated if the time to complete the GPT was influenced by the stress level and if a breathing exercise proposed to reduce the stress was useful before the execution of the manual dexterity test. In conclusion, stress does not influence significantly the GPT execution even if it changes the final time. For this reason, it was suggested to adopt, before the execution of the manual dexterity investigation, a short breathing exercise to reduce the effect of the stress. In conclusion, although the field investigated during these three years is reduced to a few tests and specific populations, it is clear that in the Sports Sciences it is necessary to create and follow SOPs in the evaluation of physical fitness, especially for those populations at risk such as children, adolescents, adults and older adults and people with specific needs, and this thesis provided indications and feedback useful for future studies.