“I feel proper self-conscious all the time”: A qualitative study of adolescent girls’ views of menstruation and physical activity.

Abstract

Background: Many children and adolescents do not engage in sufficient physical activity. Girls are less active than boys, and their activity levels decline more steeply with age. Menstruation may be associated with the decline in girls’ activity but there are few person-centred studies examining adolescent girl’s experiences of menstruation and physical activity. These are needed to understand the influence that menstruation has on the physical activity experiences of girls to inform effective interventions. Methods: Focus groups were conducted with 46 girls aged 13-15 years across three schools. The discussions explored; experiences of, barriers to and facilitators of being active during menstruation; experiences in physical education/sports teams; and talking with others about periods and being active. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results: Four themes were identified: 1) balancing perceived barriers and benefits 2) motivation and enjoyment, 3) social influences and 4) coping strategies. Participants reported using diverse strategies to overcome barriers to being active posed by menstruation and the importance of peer-support and enjoyable forms of activity. Conclusions: Menstruation has a strong influence on girls’ physical activity experiences through intra- and inter-personal factors. The implications for how these can be addressed in efforts to increase girls’ physical activity are discussed.

Opportunities, challenges and tensions: Open science through a lens of qualitative social psychology

“…Two papers acknowledge feedback from others on drafts, raising a question as to whether the, often common, practice of having colleagues feedback on drafts should be included in the CRediT statement (and therefore as an author) for 'writing -review and editing', specifically 'critical review, commentary' (Allen et al, 2014). Two of the papers (Karhulahti, 2023;Prosser et al, 2023) also acknowledge anonymous peer reviewers, whose contribution is currently obscured (although some publishers do show reviewer contributions, such as Wellcome Open Research; see e.g., Harvey et al, 2020). Additionally, these same authors have shared multiple versions -3 and 7 versions, respectively (Karhulahti, 2021;Prosser et al, 2021) However, they also point to complexities around increasing the accessibility of knowledge for qualitative research and emphasise the need for the careful and thoughtful development of data sharing practices as they relate to QSP.…”

“…Two of the papers (Karhulahti, 2023; Prosser et al, 2023) also acknowledge anonymous peer reviewers, whose contribution is currently obscured (although some publishers do show reviewer contributions, such as Wellcome Open Research; see e.g. Harvey et al, 2020). Additionally, these same authors have shared multiple versions – 3 and 7 versions, respectively (Karhulahti, 2021; Prosser et al, 2021) – on preprint servers, showing how the papers have changed following revision.…”

Peer-led physical activity intervention for girls aged 13 to 14 years: PLAN-A cluster RCT

“…In addition, patient and public involvement focus groups were conducted with adolescent girls between September 2018 and November 2018, exploring issues around menstruation and being physically active, the perceived and real barriers, and strategies to overcome them. The findings of these focus groups 73 were woven through new intervention content during intervention refinement.…”

What can Australian schools do better? Supporting students during menstruation

“…Some teachers feel ill-equipped to discuss menstruation with young people, claiming a lack of knowledge or embarrassment. For some male teachers, a lack of personal experience or awareness may compound these feelings (Harvey et al, 2020).…”