A Scoping Review of Peer-Led Physical Activity Interventions Involving Young People: Theoretical Approaches, Intervention Rationales, and Effects

Abstract

The use of peer-to-peer approaches in health promotion interventions targeting youth seems to be a strategy with great potential. The aim of this study was to synthesize and assess the elements and conditions that contribute to the effectiveness of youth-led physical activity interventions. This was done using a scoping review addressing the following three research questions: What are the theoretical and intervention rationales behind peer-led physical activity interventions? What can be established regarding the effects of such interventions on participants and peer leaders? How can such interventions be strengthened? The review included 43 studies on the peer-to-peer approach, with youth in the role as peer leaders, in physical activity interventions. The identified studies suggest that youth peer leadership initiatives can increase physical activity for youth and children. However, the studies varied on a range of parameters and did not reveal any clear patterns of factors associated with impact.

A Systematic Literature Review of Peer-led Strategies for Promoting Physical Activity Levels of Adolescents

“…PA, dietary, and obesity interventions for children and adolescents have identified and utilized BCTs in their intervention development, for example, social support (practical) and goal setting (Brannon & Cushing, 2015;Hendrie et al, 2012). Although peer-led interventions have potential for promoting positive health behaviors among adolescents (Christensen et al, 2020;Ginis et al, 2013;Hulteen et al, 2019;Jenkinson et al, 2013), inadequate description of interventions often makes identification of effective components difficult (Duff et al, 2017). Therefore, additional research is needed to understand the impact of these interventions and their active components for the enhancement of peer-leadership for health promotion.…”

“…Additionally, for sexual health interventions, knowledge, and attitudes were significantly improved, however, behavior change outcomes were not statistically significant ( Sun et al, 2018 ). Four reviews have examined the effect of peer-led strategies that targeted PA as an outcome measure ( Christensen et al, 2020 ; Ginis et al, 2013 ; Hulteen et al, 2019 ; Jenkinson et al, 2013 ). One review focused on school-based interventions ( Jenkinson et al, 2013 ), two focused on all age populations ( Ginis et al, 2013 ; Hulteen et al, 2019 ) and one focused on youth in all settings, that is, school, home, clinical, community, and university ( Christensen et al, 2020 ).…”

Formative Research to Create Culturally Sensitive HPV Vaccine Messages for Middle-School Children

“…Interestingly, children did not consider their peers a valuable source of HPV-related information. This indicates that peer-led interventions that have shown promising results in other contexts (Begg, 2020;Christensen et al, 2021) may not be suitable to address HPV prevention with the audience for this study.…”

Physical Activity in the Daily Life of Adolescents: Factors Affecting Healthy Choices from a Discrete Choice Experiment

“…As proposed by De Rosis et al [ 78 ], when designing health promotion initiatives following the peer-to-peer approach, the groups of adolescents characterized by healthy behaviors could be trained, activated, and engaged as positive testimonials and facilitators of positive lifestyles towards their peers, thus promoting healthier communities. Nevertheless, peer-to-peer initiatives are not a priori successful [ 109 , 110 , 111 , 112 ]. To this respect, it is worth pointing out that the findings of this DCE clearly highlight that, in general, adolescents do not prefer alternatives of travel that encompass friends, neither parents.…”