Identifying opportunity, capability and motivation of Sri Lankan 5th grade schoolteachers to implement in-classroom physical activity breaks: A qualitative study

Abstract

Background Classroom-based physical activity interventions have demonstrated positive effects in reducing sedentary behaviour among school children. However, this is an understudied area, especially in low- and middle-income countries such as Sri Lanka. This study aims to explore teachers’ opportunity, capability and motivation relating to the implementation of an in-classroom physical activity breaks programme. Methods Twenty-seven teachers were recruited through snowball sampling and participated in semi-structured telephone interviews from early-January to the mid-June 2022. The Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation Behaviour (COM-B) model was used to guide and deductively thematic analyse the interviews. Results 21 out of the recruited teachers responded to the full study. The mean age of respondents was 39.24 years old ranging from 27 years to 53 years. Teaching experience of the respondents ranged from three to 37 years, and 57% were female. Three teachers had a degree with a teacher training diploma, while others were having General Certificate of Education in Advanced Level with a teacher training diploma as the highest education qualification. Capability factors such as age, dress code, mask wearing, knowledge, skills and workload of the teachers were identified as important factors in implementing a physical activity breaks intervention in a Sri Lankan classroom setting. Classroom space, facilities, student backgrounds and safety were identified as opportunity factors. Obtaining policy level decisions to implement the activity breaks and managing the time of the activities to reduce time lost in education time were identified as motivational factors. Conclusion During the intervention development phase, implementation facilitators and barriers must be considered carefully. Behaviour change techniques can be utilised to address the identified COM-B factors to ensure a good implementation of the intervention.

In-classroom physical activity breaks program among school children in Sri Lanka: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…Step 2: Conducted semi-structured interviews with 21 primary school government teachers in Sri Lanka to analyse their perceptions on implementing IcPAB among Grade five students. The interview findings, which was thematically analyzed based on the COM-B model have been published elsewhere ( 20 ).…”

“…Based on the review ( 37 ) and the interview findings ( 20 ), the intervention was developed by embedding the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation-behavior (COM-B) model ( 20 , 42 , 48–50 ). The underlying theory of the COM-B model mentions that outcome behaviors must be understood in their context with consideration given to the individuals’ existing capability, opportunity and motivation to achieve these target behaviors ( 38 , 42 , 48 , 51 , 52 ).…”

“…The IcPAB program will introduce 20 cards among all intervention classes. The interviews ( 20 ) conducted during the intervention development stage (Step 2 in section 2.2.1) explored that activities which take around 5 minutes would be feasible to implement in class due to high density of teaching content in each regular class. Also, the previous evidence assured IcPAB, which requires less than 5 min to provide positive intervention effects ( 12 , 56 ).…”

“…By addressing the findings from the interviews ( 20 ), the training session with the application of the BCT taxonomy (i.e., BCT 4.1; 4.2; 5.1; 5.3; 9.1) will cover (1) the importance and benefits of IcPAB by referring to previous research findings, (2) rationale of introducing the current IcPAB activities, (3) recording of the logbooks (4) demonstration of IcPAB and (5) questions and answer round. i.e., at training, teachers will be given credible written materials and videos of how previous IcPAB practices are conducted despite teachers’ age and dress (BCT 4.2; BCT 5.3 and BCT 9.1).…”

“…This has increased the sedentary behavior with more traditional seated learning as the main objective of the teachers is to improve the students’ academic achievement. As a consequence, most of the fifth graders are identified to be physically inactive ( 17 , 25–27 ), below recommended body mass index (BMI) percentiles ( 17 , 25 ), aerobically unfit ( 18 ), and stressful ( 16 , 19 , 20 , 23 , 24 , 28 ). Therefore, there is a need to target fifth graders in primary schools in Sri Lanka to prevent grade-related sedentary behavior and obtain health benefits and maximum academic performance.…”