Facilitators of Physical Activity: Voices of Adolescents in a Disadvantaged CommunityShow others and affiliations
2017 (English)In: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, ISSN 1661-7827, E-ISSN 1660-4601, Vol. 14, no 8, article id 839Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Despite increasing socioeconomic inequalities in the health and well-being of adolescents, the voices of adolescents in disadvantaged communities regarding facilitators of physical activity (PA) have received relatively little attention. In response, the purpose of this study was to illuminate what adolescents in a multicultural community of low socioeconomic status (SES) in Sweden convey concerning facilitators of PA. Adolescents (n = 53, aged 12–13 years) were recruited from a school in a multicultural community of low SES in Sweden. Following an interpretive approach, 10 focus group interviews were conducted to produce data for a qualitative content analysis. When the adolescents mentioned PA, they mostly referred to spontaneous PA rather than organized PA, and expressed that they enjoyed their PA engagement, which they stated was promoted by the variation of PA, available options for PA, their physical skills, and the presence of peers. They reported that social support from family and friends facilitated their PA, and they offered several suggestions regarding how the school environment could better support their PA. From the perspective of self-determination theory (SDT), the results stress the importance of facilitating intrinsic motivation with a supportive PA environment in which adolescents can satisfy their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Basel, 2017. Vol. 14, no 8, article id 839
Keywords [en]
child perspective, focus group interviews, low socioeconomic status, multicultural community, self-determination theory, youth
National Category
Communication Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-35140DOI: 10.3390/ijerph14080839ISI: 000408684300009PubMedID: 28933747Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85026461026OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hh-35140DiVA, id: diva2:1146725
Projects
How-to-Act?2017-10-032017-10-032018-12-10Bibliographically approved