Abstract
Many girls do not engage in sufficient physical activity (PA). Dance is a popular form of PA among UKsecondary school-aged girls and extracurricular dance programs delivered by dance specialists may provide an alternative way to increase PA amongst girls aged 11 - 12. The purpose of this study was to explore the views of physical education and dance teachers on the structure, content and delivery of an extra-curricular dance-based PA intervention for adolescent girls. Methods: Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with eleven physical education teachers and eleven dance teachers, and were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Themes identified addressed key logistical and content/delivery-based factors to be considered when designing a dance-based PA intervention. Logistical factors included optimizing participant recruitment and aligning external providers with school behavior management policies. Content/delivery factors focused on teacher-student rapport, facilitating dance competence, and balancing teacher and student-led time. Conclusions: This formative study highlighted that an extra-curricular dance-based PA intervention would be welcomed inUK schools. A number of considerations central to the design and delivery of such a program were identified from key user groups which can be used to inform the development of school-based dance (and non-dance) interventions aimed at increasing PA amongst adolescent girls.
Highlights
Physical activity (PA) is associated with lower levels of cardiovascular risk and type 2 diabetes among children [1,2], and is linked with improved psychological health including emotional well being, self esteem and confidence [3]
The themes were grouped into two higher-order themes; 1) Perceived Need and School Logistics contained themes addressing current dance provision, school logistic issues, participant recruitment, program cost and behavior management and 2) Dance Program Content contained five themes addressing dance genre, building enjoyment, teacher-student rapport, fostering ownership and performance opportunities
All of the physical education (PE) teachers highlighted a lack of dance provision in their school and a need for a dance program
Summary
Physical activity (PA) is associated with lower levels of cardiovascular risk and type 2 diabetes among children [1,2], and is linked with improved psychological health including emotional well being, self esteem and confidence [3]. Childhood and adolescence are key periods to promote PA and the development and evaluation of interventions to target PA during youth is a priority [7]. Schools are a popular setting for the implementation of interventions, due to their frequent contact with most children. Many school-based interventions have not yielded increases in youth PA [8]. Due to the pressures to raise academic standards and improve test scores, curriculum time devoted to PA and physical education (PE) is limited [9]. There is a need for interventions delivered at school, but outside of curriculum time
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