Abstract
BackgroundEfforts to increase physical activity in youth need to consider which activities are most likely to be sustained over time in order to promote lifelong participation in physical activity. The Monitoring Activities of Teenagers to Comprehend their Habits (MATCH) study is a prospective cohort study that uses quantitative and qualitative methods to develop new knowledge on the sustainability of specific physical activities.Methods/designEight hundred and forty-three grade 5 and 6 students recruited from 17 elementary schools in New Brunswick, Canada, are followed-up three times per year. At each survey cycle, participants complete self-report questionnaires in their classroom under the supervision of trained data collectors. A sub-sample of 24 physically active students is interviewed annually using a semi-structured interview protocol. Parents (or guardians) complete telephone administered questionnaires every two years, and a health and wellness school audit is completed for each school.DiscussionMATCH will provide a description of the patterns of participation in specific physical activities in youth, and enable identification of the determinants of maintenance, decline, and uptake of participation in each activity. These data will inform the development of interventions that take into account which activities are the most likely to be maintained and why activities are maintained or dropped.
Highlights
Efforts to increase physical activity in youth need to consider which activities are most likely to be sustained over time in order to promote lifelong participation in physical activity
MATCH will provide a description of the patterns of participation in specific physical activities in youth, and enable identification of the determinants of maintenance, decline, and uptake of participation in each activity
The MATCH study provides the infrastructure for a research program that will generate better understanding of how physical activity participation evolves during childhood and adolescence
Summary
The MATCH study provides the infrastructure for a research program that will generate better understanding of how physical activity participation evolves during childhood and adolescence. The MATCH study will provide a detailed assessment of the natural history of physical activity participation in a period characterised by important changes in behaviour, growth, and puberty. We will quantify the importance of several potential determinants of participation and develop in-depth understanding of how these determinants arise and co-occur This combination of approaches will allow gaining insights into processes and events that lead to behavioural changes while enabling unexpected questions to occur. All of this will guide the development of better interventions aimed at increasing and sustaining participation in physical activity among youth. All authors reviewed the manuscript for intellectual content and approved it for publication
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