Gymnastik- och idrottshögskolan, GIH

Introduction: There is an association between physical activity and both health and academic performance. However, there is still a lack of consensus on how to engage adolescents in physical activity interventions in secondary schools. One approach to better understand the activities and strategies supporting effective implementation is to involve school staff and adolescents in the early stages of planning and preparing for interventions. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore how multiple stakeholders, including school staff, students, and experts, perceive the barriers and facilitators for implementing a school-based intervention that extends the school day with additional physical activity in Sweden.

Material and methods: This inductive explorative qualitative study involved 16 participants. Three focus groups with school staff, including principals (n = 3), teachers (n = 6), and students (n = 4), and three interviews with experts were conducted. The planned intervention and its components were presented to the participants in the focus group and interviews to discuss them based on their previous experiences and thoughts of implementing physical activities or health promotion programmes in their schools or with adolescents. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Results: Three categories emerged: (1) “types of activities offered”, highlighting the importance of designing activities that are fun, inclusive and unusual; (2) “integration of the activities into school curriculum” to promote sustainability of the intervention and incorporate physical activity throughout the school day and across school subjects, and (3) “Management support and funding” referring to the funded time and facilities that teachers leading the activities need to facilitate implementation.

Conclusions: Before implementing extra physical activity in a school setting, it is important to understand what activities enhance students' motivation and the type of support teachers need from the school principal and administration. This includes funding for teachers' time, appropriate scheduling of the activities, and access to facilities.

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is a transition period in which positive experiences of physical activity have the potential to last into later adulthood. These experiences are influenced by socioeconomic determinants, leading to health inequalities. This study aims to explore adolescents' experiences and participation in a multi-component school-based intervention in schools located in socioeconomically advantaged and disadvantaged areas in Sweden.

METHODS: A qualitative design was used to evaluate how participants experienced the intervention. The intervention was a multi-component school-based intervention. It was conducted in six schools (four control and two intervention schools) with a total of 193 students and lasted one school year. It was teacher-led and consisted of three 60-minute group sessions per week: varied physical activities, homework support with activity breaks, and walks while listening to audiobooks. In total, 23 participant observations were conducted over eight months and 27 students participated in focus groups. A content analysis was conducted.

RESULTS: The results describe a main category 'Engaging in activities depending on socioeconomic status' and three generic categories: 1. Variations in participation in PA together with classmates and teachers; 2. Variations in engagement in PA after school; and 3. Differences in time and place allocated to do homework and listen to audiobooks. These categories illustrate how participants looked forward to the physical activities but used the time spent during the walks and homework support differently depending on how busy they were after school. Frequently, those who were busiest after school were also those from the advantaged area, and those who had little to do after school were from the disadvantaged area.

CONCLUSION: Socioeconomic factors influence participants' possibilities to engage in the intervention activities as well as how they use their time in the activities. This study showed that it is crucial to support adolescents' participation in physical activities by providing structure and engaging well-known teachers in the activities, especially in schools located in disadvantaged areas.