Motivating students for physical activity: What can we learn from student perspectives?

Abstract

Regular physical activity (PA) contributes to lifelong health and well-being. Adolescents in the Netherlands do not engage in sufficient PA, leading to serious health risks. The purpose of this study is to inform PA-enhancing strategies. This paper offers a unique method for analysing students’ perspectives about opportunities for PA in their school environments. The research method combines two approaches: a Health Promoting Schools (HPS) approach, which supports children’s development by using the school setting to promote PA, and a salutogenic approach, which engages all students in dialogue and reflection to identify factors or ‘assets’ that enhance their PA. Ninety-three students aged 12–14 from four secondary pre-vocational education schools participated in two group sessions in which the structured interview matrix and photovoice methods were employed. In these sessions, the students interacted with each other about four asset categories: talents, passions, the social environment and the physical environment. Thematic analyses of their dialogues led to three main insights: (a) students must perceive the activities as meaningful, appealing, contextually possible and manageable; (b) they use a wide variety of reasoning processes when deciding whether to engage in PA; and (c) it is valuable to invite students to share their individual perspectives on assets related to PA. All these aspects connect to the goals of both HPS and salutogenesis. We conclude that shifting the focus towards developing school-based interventions that build on student perspectives and active participation provides students with realistic opportunities for shaping PA and motivates them to be more physically active.

Physical Activity, Body Mass Index (BMI) and Abdominal Obesity of Pre-Adolescent Children in the Region of Thrace, NE Greece, in Relation to Socio-Demographic Characteristics

“…Promoting physical activity among young people is considered a priority to facilitate the transfer of an active lifestyle to adulthood [14]. The frequency of parental exercise is a role model for children.…”

“…Modeling roles with the active participation of parents, providing logistical support and creating a healthy home environment, affects the weight status of children, especially in the first years of life [56,57]. There is an enhancing feedback cycle between parents and children that mutually influences each other's behavior [14,58].…”

“…A first step to reaping the potential benefits of the above correlations could be to explore possible correlations of socio-economic status with parameters such as physical activity, daily activities, diet, and sleep, especially those that are potentially modifiable [2,14]. In this context, parental modeling is an important social factor that influences the development of active and sedentary habits in young people [15].…”

Determination of flexibility and mobility levels for female physical education students and motor asymmetry analysis

“…According to the literature, tests included in the study have no part of fitness, and functional tests are used to measure the performance level of physical education and sport students. Besides this, many studies seem to be focused on the wellness, and performance of the students, but not focused on the skills of the students which may improve their coaching performance [1,9,[25][26][27][28]. Therefore, not the inclusion of the flexibility and mobility tests into test batteries can be considered as a missed point of selection tests to measure the performance of the physical education and sport science students.…”

“…To clarify it, a certain percentage of the successful evaluation of students may be based on practical skills. For the physical education and sport students' full assessment, it is necessary to analyze the parameters of the functional condition of the body [9][10][11]. To provide a qualitative evaluation, firstly, the norm values must be determined for flexibility and mobility in sport science students.…”