Enhancing the implementation and sustainability of fundamental movement skill interventions in the UK and Ireland: lessons from collective intelligence engagement with stakeholders

Abstract

Background To have population-level impact, physical activity (PA) interventions must be effectively implemented and sustained under real-world conditions. Adequate Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) is integral to children being able to actively participate in play, games, and sports. Yet, few FMS interventions have been implemented at scale, nor sustained in routine practice, and thus it is important to understand the influences on sustained implementation. The study’s aim was to use Collective Intelligence (CI)—an applied systems science approach—with stakeholder groups to understand barriers to the implementation of FMS interventions, interdependencies between these barriers, and options to overcome the system of barriers identified. Methods Three CI sessions were conducted with three separate groups of experienced FMS intervention researchers/practitioners (N = 22) in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Participants generated and ranked barriers they perceive most critical in implementing FMS interventions. Each group developed a structural model describing how highly ranked barriers are interrelated in a system. Participants then conducted action mapping to solve the problem based on the logical relations between barriers reflected in the model. Results The top ranked barriers (of 76) are those related to policy, physical education curriculum, and stakeholders’ knowledge and appreciation. As reflected in the structural model, these barriers have influences over stakeholders’ efficacy in delivering and evaluating interventions. According to this logical structure, 38 solutions were created as a roadmap to inform policy, practice, and research. Collectively, solutions suggest that efforts in implementation and sustainability need to be coordinated (i.e., building interrelationship with multiple stakeholders), and a policy or local infrastructure that supports these efforts is needed. Conclusions The current study is the first to describe the complexity of barriers to implementing and sustaining FMS interventions and provide a roadmap of actions that help navigate through the complexity. By directing attention to the ecological context of FMS intervention research and participation, the study provides researchers, policy makers, and practitioners with a framework of critical components and players that need to be considered when designing and operationalising future projects in more systemic and relational terms.

Comparing the fundamental movement skill proficiency of children with intellectual disabilities and typically developing children: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…2005; Ma et al . 2021). This will provide children with activities where they would maximise learning opportunities and support children's skill acquisition process.…”

“…Research has highlighted some of the barriers faced for delivering quality PE in primary schools, including lack of teacher knowledge and confidence, importance level of PE as determined by the school/teacher, sports provision models that are not child-centred, lack of funding and facilities, lack of specialist PE teachers and lack of support from school management (Decorby et al 2005;Morgan & Hansen 2008). A commonality among all of this research that is echoed by primary school teachers themselves is the lack of training and education provided to teachers on how to deliver PE, resulting in lack of confidence and knowledge (Decorby et al 2005;Ma et al 2021). This will provide children with activities where they would maximise learning opportunities and support children's skill acquisition process.…”

“…This point is even more salient for those who work with children with ID considering that they may need additional support and assistance to develop their FMS. For example, Ma et al (2021) found that teachers in primary and secondary schools have limited capacity to advance children's FMS due to lack of education in their initial training and gaps in professional development opportunities. This is relevant for both children with and without ID as all teachers undergo similar training and professional development.…”

A scoping review of systems approaches for increasing physical activity in populations

“…System mapping was a widely used method for doing this. PA was the focus of the system map in some studies [23][24][25][26][27][28][29], while in others it was one of multiple components (e.g. along with healthy eating [20,22,30], or other risk factors for obesity [31] and diseases [32]).…”

The role of playgrounds in the development of children’s fundamental movement skills: A scoping review

“…To increase FMS, many interventions have been developed in various contexts [ 11 – 13 ], but few FMS interventions have been implemented at scale [ 14 ]. Adult-directed, structured FMS programs are considered effective in developing children’s FMS [ 15 ].…”