Investigating Adolescent Girls' Perceptions and Experiences of School‐Based Physical Activity to Inform the Girls' Peer Activity Intervention Study

Abstract

BACKGROUND Adolescent girls are likely to be less active than adolescent boys. A range of factors including multiple psychosocial aspects are thought to influence their engagement in physical activity (PA). This study aimed to explore adolescent girls' perceptions and experiences of school‐based PA to inform a subsequent intervention, the Girls Peer Activity (G‐PACT) project. METHODS The Youth Activity Profile was used to assess adolescent girls' current PA levels. Open‐ended questions were used to investigate girls' perceptions and experiences of school‐based PA. Focus groups stratified by PA level were then conducted to explore their perceptions and experiences in depth. The focus group data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. RESULTS The master themes emanating from the focus groups were noncompetitive activities and after‐school sport culture for lower active girls. Higher active girls' master themes were PA perceptions and physical education. Regardless of activity level, participants reported greater enjoyment from PA when participating with friends and having choice over activities provided within the school setting. CONCLUSIONS The findings highlight the importance of choice, peer groupings, noncompetitive opportunities, and PA competence to adolescent girls' school‐based PA behaviors. The school environment can support and restrict girls' engagement in PA. The findings will be applied to the design, content, and implementation of the G‐PACT project.

Adolescents’ Perspectives on the Barriers and Facilitators of Physical Activity: An Updated Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies

“…PA was also identified based on the PE teacher’s subjective classification [ 29 ] or by recurring to accelerometry [ 30 ]. Overall, the majority of studies collecting the adolescent’s PA levels, have involved and considered in the analysis the perspectives of (i) active adolescents [ 31 , 32 , 33 ]; (ii) adolescents who have been active for the last 8 years [ 34 ]; (iii) adolescents with different levels of PA [ 27 , 29 , 30 , 35 , 36 , 37 ]; and (iv) inactive or low active adolescents [ 38 , 39 , 40 ]. Two studies involved adolescents from diverse PA levels but did not stratify the results based on the identified PA levels [ 41 , 42 ].…”

“…For those which did, SES was often reported at a general level and not used in the analysis. Some studies, however, involved only adolescents with a low SES [ 37 , 43 ] or explicitly contrasted the voices of adolescents with a low and a high SES [ 27 , 36 , 44 ].…”

“…Regarding each study purpose ( Supplementary Table S2 ), most studies focused on exploring the perspectives of adolescents about the main PA facilitators and barriers. However, some studies also had a particular focus on the socio-cultural discourses about the body [ 35 ], femininity [ 31 ], and power relations [ 29 ]; on knowledge and understanding of PA and health [ 42 ]; on specific contexts such as school-based PA and PE e.g., [ 36 , 37 , 50 ] or public open spaces [ 33 ]; on the social support of friends or family e.g., [ 27 , 30 , 32 ]); on the recommendations to promote PA e.g., [ 40 , 51 , 52 ]; and on the understanding of the factors related to the PA decline with age [ 38 ]. The socio-ecological model of health promotion was the theoretical framework mostly used in seven studies.…”

“…For those adolescents, PA was not often appreciated, valued, and was not part of their self-identity e.g., [ 29 , 41 , 47 , 52 , 53 , 54 ]. A negative PA attitude became more prevalent with age [ 31 , 37 , 43 , 54 ] and was often associated with negative PA experiences. These adolescents did not like activities that were: imposed, repetitive, boring, traditional [ 31 , 45 , 46 , 53 , 54 ]; highly structured, intense, and non-challenging [ 29 , 40 ]; focused on performance/competition e.g., [ 34 , 35 , 36 , 38 , 48 ], and team sports [ 39 , 40 , 45 , 49 ]; where no autonomy/choice was given [ 53 , 54 , 55 ]; and that occurred in a non-supportive environment e.g., [ 29 , 31 , 51 , 52 ].…”

A study protocol for a clustered randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a peer-led school-based walking intervention on adolescent girls’ physical activity: the Walking In ScHools (WISH) study

“…This work suggested activities that required no change of uniform and could be performed with friends, during the school day, were likely to be accepted and encourage participation [37]. It is recognised that enjoyment of physical activity is positively correlated with physical activity participation levels for adolescents [38] and research has shown that lowactive girls enjoy non-competitive physical activity within the school setting and enjoy physical activity when participating with friends [39]. Research has shown that friends engage in similar levels of physical activity and physical activity interventions within the peer group may be effective as friendship can influences physical activity behaviour [40].…”