1,721,686 research outputs found
Motivating children and adolescents to develop a physically active lifestyle : the role of extracurricular school-based sports and motor competence
No full textThe value of intersectoral partnerships in sport : promoting sport participation, physical activity, social capital and mental health through a sport development program in disadvantaged communities
Full text linkSocietal changes in the 20th and 21st century have led to a bigger gap between rich and poor, an increased social diversity and a decrease in social cohesion and social capital in our Western civilization. These changes cause multidimensional challenges for sport, social, health, youth and cultural sectors that cannot be handled by a single organisation and call for an integrated approach. One of these challenges is including ethnic minorities and people of lower social class into society.
Asides these mutual challenges, these sectors offer potential joint solutions. Participation in sport has namely been regarded as a popular tool to reach disadvantaged groups and found to be related with higher levels of physical activity and social capital and better mental health. Previous research has indicated that, when these sectors partner together, an increased sport participation in the community can be attained. Although partnerships between the sport, health, social and other sectors seem obvious, on the field, this is far from being the standard. Most sport organisations operate in silos, which causes a sports delivery paradox. On the one hand sport organisations want to inspire every individual to participate in sport, but struggle to reach disadvantaged target groups due to a lack of skills and knowledge to deal with these groups. On the other hand, health, social, youth and cultural organisations use sport as a vehicle to capture the attention of these disadvantaged groups and to reach physical, social and mental health gains, but lack sport specific skills and resources to reach their goals. To dissolve this paradox and in order to reach and strengthen each other’s goals, the need to collaborate between sport, health, social and other sectors is pertinent.
The main purpose of this doctoral thesis is therefore to provide insights into if and how these sectors create value when they collaborate. A community sport development program (CSDP) in Antwerp (Belgium) was chosen as case study in order to deliver these insights. The CSDP interacts with both sport, health, social and other organisations. The main ambition of CSDP is to enable sport participation and to lower thresholds concerning sport participation for everyone residing in the community, with special attention for the disadvantaged groups. The CSDP additionally uses sport as a means for social inclusion and health promotion. The present doctoral thesis incorporates three studies with the purpose of answering how intersectoral partnerships can deliver added value in sports.
A first study aimed to provide insight into the interrelation of sport participation, total physical activity (PA) (i.e. active transportation, leisure-time PA, household-related PA, work-related PA), community social capital (a measure for the trust in the people of the community), individual social capital (a measure for the trust in the people in general) and mental health. These relations are often the reason for social, health and other organisations to partner with the sport sector. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM-)analysis showed that sport participation was associated with better mental health but not with both types of social capital. Social capital was only generated when individuals indicated that they participated in sport with friends or family. Higher levels of community and individual social capital were linked with higher levels of mental health. Only community social capital was related to higher levels of physical activity. No relation was found between physical activity and mental health. Results of this study imply that supporting initiatives aiming at bringing the neighbours together by means of sport has beneficial effects in different ways.
A second study investigated whether adults from CSDP-communities engaged in more sport participation than adults from control communities (without CSDP) and if this also resulted in higher levels of physical activity, social capital and mental health. Multilevel-model analysis revealed that adults from program communities engaged in significantly more sport and in more physical activity than their counterparts living in control communities. Sport participation of respondents in CSDPcommunities was 61.3% whereas in control communities, such participation was only 42.4%.
Furthermore, individuals of CSDP-communities participated on average 96 min longer than in control communities. Moreover, participation in sport clubs was also significantly higher for adults in program communities (15.7%) compared to that of adults of control communities (6.5%) and the average of adults in Belgium (10.9%). These results apply to the entire community, however, they also apply to ethnic minorities and people of lower social class. To illustrate, in CSDP-communities 46.2% of ethnic women of lower social class indicated to participate in sport, whereas in control communities this was only 10%. Concerning physical activity, adults from CSDP-communities were approximately 50% more physically active than their counterparts in control communities. No differences were found, however, for social capital and mental health between the respondents of the different communities.
Mechanisms underpinning these outcomes could be derived by analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. Findings indicated that, for the context of sport promotion, it is crucial to have an organisation that can bridge the gap between sport organisations on the one hand and health, social, culture and youth organisations on the other. The links between these organisations provide a better sport offer tailored to the needs of the residents in the disadvantaged communities. The CSDP was able to undo the sports delivery paradox by bridging this gap between sport and health, social, cultural and youth organisations. The CSDP started from the available capacities in the communities and aimed to strengthen the organisations using different strategies, making them an added value for multiple organisations. Regarding the staff members of the CSDP it appears that a combination of both sport and social workers is best to reach the objectives of the CSDP. Furthermore, one of the reasons why the CSDP remains sustainable is because they support sport clubs open to disadvantaged groups both with cultural, organisational and financial capacity.
The third and final study targeted to identify the key success factors of intersectoral partnerships in a community sport development context according to the ‘capacity building theory’. Thirteen key success factors were identified that build capacity at the practitioner, organisational and partnership level in the context of the CSDP. First, at the practitioner level, more knowledge and competences are gained between partners that evaluate their mutual activities during the process, and that foster mutual trust by having an open attitude toward the partners, having clarity about their role in the partnership, looking for opportunities in the environment and by understanding that fostering trust does not happen overnight, but takes time to be built. Second, at the organisational level, more resources are shared by organisations that create interdependence between their partners and that build support from policy makers. The support from policy makers can be positively influenced by objective metrics that prove the value of the partnership and by the support of partners who convince the policy makers of the added value of the organisation and the partnership.
Third, at the partnership level, stronger and broader partnerships are built by organisations that dispose of unique qualities that are complementary and compatible with the other organisations in the community and that diversify in their activities. This facilitates the connection with multiple organisations and over time creates credibility that convinces other organisations to join the partnership.
In conclusion, empirical results of our studies indicate that intersectoral partnerships in sport have value, especially to promote sport participation and physical activity. It appears that the sharing of skills, competences and resources between the sport sector on one hand and the social, health, youth and cultural sector on the other hand, are crucial to resolve the sport delivery paradox
Effect and implementation research in the prevention of obesity : a practice based research approach in Flanders
No full textThe high prevalence rates of overweight and obesity, and the related health problems, stress out the need for obesity prevention. As in other countries, in Belgium, the urgency for action was picked up by the Flemish government and resulted in a health target on nutrition and physical activity, two important health behaviors related to overweight and obesity.
The subject of this doctoral thesis was the evaluation of projects funded by the Flemish government as part of the action plan for the health target on nutrition and physical activity. Two major types of projects are incorporated in the Flemish action plan on nutrition and physical activity. The first type of projects is about the development and evaluation of new interventions and the second type of projects is about the implementation of evidence-based projects in Flanders. The overall purpose of this thesis was to report on the evaluation of these projects. For the evaluation of the different projects, a form of practice based research in which researchers and practitioners collaborate, was used. Further the thesis deals with the challenges experienced during the evaluation and collaboration between researchers and practitioners.
The first three studies in the thesis report on the effectiveness of the first type of projects (i.e. newly developed interventions). The projects ‘Health Scores!’, ‘Physical activity prescription’ and ‘Crazy about Health’ are discussed. The project ‘Health Scores!’ aimed at increasing physical activity and improving the nutrition of children and adolescents (10-14 year) of a lower socio-economic background. This project combined a school program with professional football players as a credible source to deliver health messages on physical activity and nutrition. The study findings indicated that the intervention was mainly successful in increasing the psychosocial correlates of physical activity and a healthy diet. The second project ‘Physical activity prescription’ had as objective to increase physical activity levels and several related quality of life indicators in adults from socially disadvantaged neighborhoods. The intervention consisted of a physical activity prescription delivered by a physician and a counseling program by a personal physical activity coach. The six months intervention was able to accomplish positive effects on both physical activity and several quality of life indicators. The third project, ‘Crazy about Health’ targeted the local health policy of small sized municipalities. Based on the key community principles, nine dimensions relevant for local policy development were identified. The development of a local health policy on physical activity and nutrition was stimulated through an online self-assessment tool followed by guidance from the local-regional networks for prevention. The project was able to create a positive change to a higher quality level on each dimension in the intervention municipalities.
The final two studies included in this doctoral thesis, report on the evaluation of so called implementation projects. The first study evaluated the state-wide dissemination of the ‘10 000 Steps Flanders’ project and the second study reports on the dissemination of the commuter cycling
Antecedents of motivating and demotivating teaching behavior and burnout in physical education teachers
No full textGiven the increasing number of studies on motivation in physical education starting from the framework of Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985b; Deci & Ryan, 2000, 2002), the first aim in this dissertation was to provide an overview of studies investigating SDT in the context of physical education, to give a summary of their main findings, and to identify research gaps to move this line of research forward. SDT is of great pedagogical value to the practice of physical education, because it explains the mechanisms behind different kinds of student motivation while it also provides an understanding of how teachers behave in a (de)motivating manner towards students.
In the review, most studies provided proof for the motivational sequence of SDT, stating that autonomous motivation (this is motivation arising from personal interests, values, and from intrinsic pleasure) in students relates to adaptive outcomes such as more engagement and better performance, while controlled motivation (this is motivation arising from internal or external pressures) and amotivation (this is a lack of motivation) relate to more maladaptive outcomes such as anxiety. In line with the motivational sequence of SDT, several studies in the context of physical education revealed that the satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness in students relate to more optimal or autonomous motivation in physical education, and that these basic psychological needs are more likely to be satisfied in an optimally motivating or need-supportive environment characterized by autonomysupport, structure, and warm interactions (Deci & Ryan, 2000, 2002). Although less frequently investigated, some studies showed that the students’ needs can also be frustrated when students are exposed to a needthwarting or controlling, chaotic, and cold environment. The results from research show that need support relates to more need satisfaction, which leads to more autonomous motivation, while need-thwarting is related to more need frustration, which leads to more maladaptive outcomes such as controlled motivation and amotivation. Based on the findings in the review, it was suggested that future studies might focus on all three need-supportive dimensions simultaneously rather than on autonomy support solely. This recommendation was taken into account when setting up the studies that are presented in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 in this dissertation. As it was also revealed that a need-thwarting environment was not yet extensively examined before, we developed an observation tool for need-thwarting teaching behavior and included these demotivating teaching behaviors in two studies the present dissertation.
In the review, it was also recommended that physical education related contextual variables such as the characteristics of the teacher, the curriculum, or class and student-related factors could be analyzed in a more meaningful way in future studies. Apart from these research gaps, Aim 2 and 3 in the present dissertation largely build on the identification of one major gap in the literature, namely that previous SDTgrounded research in physical education especially focused on student motivation rather than on the antecedents or what drives teachers to be optimally motivating towards their students. For the purpose of this dissertation, we investigated antecedents from within, referring to personal characteristics of the teacher (Aim 2), and antecedents from below, referring to students’ behavior and characteristics (Aim 3).
We explored how teachers’ personal characteristics (i.e., the quality of their motivation to teach and their general causality orientations) relate to teaching behavior in class in Aim 2. To do so, we took a variable-centered as well as a person-centered approach (i.e. identifying and comparing motivational profiles). The results indicated that more autonomous motivation (this is, motivation that arises from personal interests, identification with the values of the profession, and the intrinsic pleasure that comes from teaching) related to more need support towards the students, while controlled motivation (this is, motivation arising from external or internal pressures, such as the paycheck, the many school holidays, or the reputation) related to less need support. When looking at general causality orientations as an antecedent from within, we found that an autonomy orientation (referring to the perception that individuals volitionally take actions based on their own personal interests and values) was not related to observed need support or need-thwarting. Highly control-oriented teachers (who adapt their behavior to external or internal pressures, such as rewards or expectations) showed and reported less need support and more needthwarting in class than lowly control oriented teachers. Negative relationships between disengagement and need support tended to be stronger among strongly autonomy-oriented teachers. Less strongly controloriented teachers were more need-supportive towards engaged students.
Next to antecedents from within, we also explored antecedents from below (Aim 3) in investigating how student (dis)engagement related to teachers’ need-supportive and need-thwarting teaching behavior. We did this by first examining the association between student (dis)engagement and need-supportive teaching behavior from a multilevel perspective. We concluded that in the eye of the beholder (teachers or students), there was a positive relationship between students’ engagement and teachers’ need support, while students’ disengagement related to less need support. When external observers rated student (dis)engagement and teachers’ need-supportive and need-thwarting teaching behaviors, no clear relationships between both dimensions were found. More specifically, we explored relationships between student (dis)engagement and need support or need-thwarting in five-to-five minute intervals in one physical education lesson and the findings suggested that student (dis)engagement might have a different relationship with teachers’ behaviors depending on the specific moment of the lesson.
It is a must for physical education teachers to be optimally motivated and to strive for optimal mental health and well-being when being a teacher. However, compared to other professions, teachers have a relatively high risk to develop feelings of burnout (Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1996; Schaufeli & Enzmann, 1998). Burnout is characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished personal accomplishment and is related to maladaptive outcomes in the work context (e.g., Maslach & Jackson, 1981; Schaufeli, Leiter, & Maslach, 2009). In the 2nd Aim of this dissertation, we therefore investigated the roots or antecedents of burnout in physical education teachers and found that autonomous motivation in teachers might act as a buffer in the development of burnout, while controlled motivation related to more burnout in teachers.
As teachers’ way of behaving in the classroom affects students’ learning and as burnout is an problem among teachers, this dissertation explored antecedents of burnout, need-supportive, and needthwarting teaching behavior in physical education teachers. As the findings suggest that teachers’ motivation and general causality orientations relate to their need-supportive and need-thwarting teaching behavior towards students, it is suggested to organize CPD sessions that raise awareness of their quality of motivation for teaching and of their general causality orientations. Insight might be provided on how these characteristics relate to feelings of burnout or to their need-supportive or need-thwarting teaching style in class. The results further call for more experimental and more intervention studies to identify the most important pressures teachers experience in practice, so that interventions can be tailored to their specific and most important problems and needs
Physical activity, physical fitness and screen-time among Ecuadorian adolescents
Full text linkSimilar to various low and middle income countries (LMICs), in Ecuador, the leading cause death is lifestyle related non-communicable disease (NCDs). Unfortunately preventive action to decrease the incidence of NCDs risk factors during adolescence is scarce. To our knowledge, there are no studies in Ecuador focused on improving the dietary intake, physical activity, physical fitness or sedentary patterns among adolescents. The present doctoral work aims to provide evidence on strategies to promote a healthy lifestyle in Ecuadorian adolescents. For this purpose, first we evaluated the current physical fitness among adolescents, and its association with dyslipidemia as the most prevalent NCD risk factor. Second, we analyzed the effect of a school-based health promotion program on physical fitness, physical activity and sedentary behaviors among adolescents. Finally, we assessed whether adolescents that are already at health risk such as overweight/obese and those with a low fitness level respond differently to the intervention program.
In order to study the current state of physical fitness among Ecuadorian adolescents, a cross sectional study in an urban (Cuenca city) and a rural (Nabón canton) area was conducted (Chapter 2.1). In total of 648 adolescents (52.3% boys), attending 8th, 9th and 10th grade of the secondary schools participated in this study. We found that the majority of adolescents (59%) had poor physical fitness according to the FITNESSGRAM standards. Urban participants showed better scores in the majority of EUROFIT tests compared to their rural peers. The physical fitness of the whole population was worse compared to that of adolescents from some other countries e.g. Spain, Belgium, Turkey, Poland and Mexico. These findings indicate the need for specific health promotion programs aiming to improve physical fitness among Ecuadorian adolescents. In this study we also found a weak association between physical fitness and blood lipid profile, even after adjustment for energy intake (Chapter 3).
A school-based health promotion program entitled “ACTIVITAL” was designed using the Intervention Mapping protocol and Comprehensive Participatory Planning and Evaluation approach. The program involved an individual and environmental component tailored to the local context and resources. The individual component included the delivery of an educational package organized at classroom level. The environmental component included (i) workshops with parents and staff in school canteens; (ii) social events at school such as an interactive session with famous young athletes and the preparation of a healthy breakfast and (iii) a walking trail that was drawn on the school playground (Chapter 2.2). A total of 1440 from 8th and 9th grade adolescents (intervention: n=700, 48.6%) from 20 schools (intervention: n=10, 50%) participated in the cluster-randomized pair-matched trial that lasted 28 months. Primary outcomes were dietary intake (24 recall questionnaire), physical fitness (EUROFIT battery), physical activity (accelerometers) and sedentary behaviors (screen-time self-reported questionnaire); the BMI, blood pressure, waist circumference were secondary outcomes. Results related to dietary intake, blood pressure and waist circumference were presented in a previous doctoral dissertation.
We found that the school-based health promotion program can improve physical fitness, minimize the decline in physical activity levels (Chapter 4) and mitigate the increase in screen-time among Ecuadorian adolescents (Chapter 5). Specifically, the intervention program increased the vertical jump (mean intervention effect=2.5cm; 95%CI 0.8-4.2; P=0.01). Although marginally insignificant, adolescents from the intervention group increased less time for speed shuttle run (mean intervention effect=-0.8s, 95%CI -1.58-0.07; P=0.05). The proportion of students achieving over 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity / day decreased over time with the change in proportion significantly less in the intervention schools (6 vs. 18 percentage points, P<0.01). Adolescents on the intervention group reported watching less television (intervention effect =-14.8 min, 95%CI -27.4 -2.5; P=0.02) and they also showed decreased total screen-time (intervention effect =-25 min, 95%CI -47.9 -2.8; P=0.03) on a weekend day.
Our results also suggest that the school-based health promotion program might improve the speed and muscular strength fitness components among low-fit and overweight/obese adolescents (Chapter 6). Specifically, the intervention effect on speed shuttle run was higher in overweight (intervention effect=-1.9 s, 95%CI -3.62 -0.08; P=0.04) adolescents compared to underweight (intervention effect =-1.7 s, 95%CI -6.31 to 2.97; P=0.5) or normal weight (intervention effect =-0.4s, 95%CI -1.63 to 0.93; P=0.6) peers. The intervention effect on vertical jump was higher in adolescents with poor physical fitness (intervention effect =3.7 cm, 95%CI 1.15; 6.28; P=0.005) compared to their fit (intervention effect =1.3 cm, 95%CI -1.77 to 4.32; P=0.4) peers.
We conclude that a school-based health promotion program with relatively few intervention objectives, strategies and activities, but refined with stakeholder participation could have an effect on physical fitness, physical activity and screen-time behaviors of Ecuadorian adolescents. Future interventions should try to include the health education program as a part of the official school curriculum as well as try to identify the barriers to parents’ participation in order to improve the effectiveness of the program (Chapter 7)
Governance of sport and physical activity policy implementation networks : key determinants, configurations and processes
No full textThe governance of sport and physical activity can be considered a ‘wicked problem’ because of its high interdependency of factor and actors, its social complexity and the absence of a single solution to deal with it. One possible way to cope with wicked problems is the network approach. Notwithstanding large amounts of research on interorganizational networks, some research topics only generated disagreement among researchers and still some blind spots remain. In sport and physical activity literature, research on collaborative networks and on how governments administer manage and govern sport and physical activity is very rare. Therefore, there is a need to strengthen the network collaboration orientation in health promotion and sport research. This research aims to contribute to the existing body of empirical research on whole network effectiveness by elaborating the relative importance of antecedents and processes on network effectiveness, studying the equifinality of network effectiveness, and analysing the effects of underlying processes of power and dependency on network governance. Results of the first study of thirteen networks showed that the most successful networks possessed formal agreements, did not have a metropolis in their operation area, experienced positive effects of the reorganization, included partners with political and exposure motives, showed high levels of commitment, could count on a high quality staff that maintained personal contact with others in the network and that were tightly governed by the network administrative organization. Further study of these networks, using configurational comparative methods, revealed that determinants of network collaboration for sport and PA are interrelated. This implies, for instance, that environmental challenges can be addressed by certain structural network features and network governance. It was also shown that as long as network governance is tailored to the network structure, which in turn fits with the environment, network effectiveness can be reached in different ways. Network governance is thus an essential element in achieving network effectiveness. The third study, which dugs deeper into the characteristics and processes of network governance, demonstrates that network decision-making and coordination is influenced by power imbalances and dependencies. The results showed a dominance of a lead organization. Although collaborating in networks with power imbalances and dependencies entails some risks and challenges, such as power abuse, obstruction of decision-making or exclusion of potential network partners, the network can still be governed effectively. This study showed that when the powerful organizations are committed to the collaboration and enjoy proper levels of trust of the other network partners the collaboration can succeed. Four strategies were distinguished that helped the lead organization to build legitimacy and trust in the network; leveraging expertise and knowledge; engaging in collaborative goal setting; establishing a task force; and engaging in co-optation tactics.
Overall this research has attributed to the public network literature and to the knowledge of collaborative networks for sport and PA policy. The take-away message for network managers is that collaborative networks for sport and PA policy implementation seem to benefit from a centralized governance. To obtain network success, a clear goal-setting, partners’ motivations and general commitment to the network are crucial. Finally, it is important that network partners and representatives feel at ease in the collaboration despite power imbalances and dependencies
Understanding and stimulating the development of perceptual-motor skills in child bicyclists
Full text linkEffectiveness and implementation practices of interventions promoting healthy energy balance-related behaviors in children and parents : two cases: school gardens and the Feel4Diabetes-project.
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Measuring, understanding, and changing physical activity and sedentary behavior in young children
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