Young Adolescents’ Perceptions of a Faith-Based Physical Activity Intervention in Parochial Middle Schools

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Faith-based school physical activity (PA) interventions are uncommon. Process evaluations of school PA interventions, in general, rarely include student participant voices. Purpose: We interviewed a subset of participants in Physical Activity for Lent (PAL) – a pedometer-based virtual journey that traces Jesus’s life travels – to understand their various perceptions of the program. Methods: Twenty-two participants (77% ethnic/racial minority) in grades 6–8 representing four Catholic schools participated in focus group interviews. A combination of inductive thematic analysis and deductive analysis was used. Results: Participants claimed to be mindful of being physically active; however, their qualifications of mindfulness primarily cited external cues such as friends. Motivation for and enjoyment of PAL were strongly linked to involvement of friends as competitors and PA co-participants as well as striving to walk like/with Jesus. Expressions of gains in knowledge of and connectedness with Jesus were mostly literal. Discussion: PAL was generally well received although its premise of participants being mindful to perform PA in the spirit of Jesus was subservient to reinforcement from friends. Translation to Health Education Practice: Faith-based interventions in schools should include a strong prosocial component. School staff may need to provide verbal input and modeling of connections between physical activity and faith to deepen young adolescents’ understanding of the religious purpose of such interventions.