Abstract

In Northern Ireland (NI), many children do not meet the recommended levels of physical activity (PA). To reduce the prevalence of physical inactivity and associated health conditions, it is important to understand the influences on children's PA, which in turn has the potential to inform future intervention design. The purpose of this formative study was to examine the current views, barriers, facilitators, experiences, and perceptions of children in relation to PA in the classroom, school, and home environments, and to assess the acceptability of components for a school-based intervention. Write and draw tasks and semi-structured focus groups (n = 10) were conducted with 50 children aged 7–9 years (22 boys, 28 girls) from six primary schools. Focus groups were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed thematically. Pen profiles were constructed from the transcripts in a deductive manner and represent key emergent themes. Results indicated that children's perception and knowledge of PA was mainly structured and sport-based, while some referred to fun, play and health. Fun, social support and outdoor activity were identified as key facilitators. Barriers included parental restrictions, lack of time and space in the different environments. The acceptability of intervention components was examined, children recognized the potential benefits of additional movement in the classroom, but opinions differed on the sit-to-stand desks. Findings contribute to a more detailed understanding of children's perceptions of context specific PA, the barriers they face, in addition to factors that support them to lead a physically active lifestyle, which may inform future PA promotion strategies.

Highlights

  • Developing effective health promotion strategies targeting primary school-aged children is necessary to reduce the future burden of preventable non-communicable diseases (Janssen and LeBlanc, 2010)

  • Data are presented in five pen profiles, and focus on children’s perspectives on physical activity (PA), PA knowledge, PA barriers and facilitators and intervention approaches

  • PA was mostly associated with sport-based activity e.g., football (n = 10), dancing (n = 7) and structured activity e.g., physical education (PE) (n = 8), with participants defining PA as “sport” (n = 17)

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Developing effective health promotion strategies targeting primary school-aged children is necessary to reduce the future burden of preventable non-communicable diseases (Janssen and LeBlanc, 2010). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a major public health concern is the increasing number of children who fail to meet the current PA guidelines of an average of 60 min/day of moderate- to –vigorous-intensity aerobic PA across the week (Bull et al, 2020; Guthold et al, 2020). This issue is prevalent among primary-school children in Northern Ireland (NI), who are least likely to meet the recommended levels of PA, when compared with other countries in the United Kingdom (UK) (Griffiths et al, 2013) and in Europe (Verloigne et al, 2016). There are concerns about coexisting sedentary behavior (SB) in children, screen-based activities like television viewing, which has unfavorable effects on various health indicators, independent of PA (Tremblay et al, 2011)

Objectives
Methods
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call