Supporting adolescents' leisure time physical activity in low‐income areas: A qualitative systematic review of participant, parent and stakeholder perspectives on family and community interventions

Abstract

In low‐income communities, there is often a lack of resources and facilities for adolescents to engage in organized sports and leisure time physical activity. Therefore, different intervention strategies have been applied to promote physical activity. Yet, a systematic overview of the experiences of those involved in the interventions is lacking. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative systematic review was to synthesize participating adolescents', their parents' and other stakeholders' perspectives on family and/or community interventions that seek to support adolescents' leisure time physical activity in low‐income areas. Five databases were searched using PIICo (P [population], I [intervention], I [phenomena of interest], and Co [context]) to operationalize the review question. Sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Through a thematic synthesis inspired by Thomas and Harden, six themes were constructed: (1) developing relationships with a trustworthy adult coach, (2) meeting an inclusive approach: ‘A place for everyone’, (3) forming new friendships through fun sports activities, (4) receiving support through free services, (5) experiencing the neighbourhood as unsafe and (6) challenging life circumstances for adolescents' participation. The findings showed that coaches and other programme staff are significant for adolescents' positive experiences of the intervention and continuous participation. Furthermore, mutual trust, respect and coaches utilizing inclusive approaches were significant to the development of social bonds between peers and their coaches. However, life circumstances and the experience of an unsafe neighbourhood impacted the adolescents' attendance negatively. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.