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. 2021 Dec;16(1):1980279.
doi: 10.1080/17482631.2021.1980279.

Children's perceptions of factors influencing their physical activity: a focus group study on primary school children

Gabrielle Wann Nii Tay  1 , Mei Jun Chan  1 , Gayatri Kembhavi  2 , Jubilee Lim  1 , Salome A Rebello  1 , Hazyl Ng  3 , Congren Lin  3 , Lynette P Shek  4   5 , Carla Lança  6 , Falk Müller-Riemenschneider  1 , Mary Foong-Fong Chong  1   5
Affiliations

Children's perceptions of factors influencing their physical activity: a focus group study on primary school children

Gabrielle Wann Nii Tay et al. Int J Qual Stud Health Well-being. 2021 Dec.

Abstract

Purpose: Establishing healthy lifestyle behaviours in primary school children is important, as these behaviours are likely to track into adulthood. This study aimed to explore the factors influencing physical activity (PA) in primary school children through their perspectives.

Approach: Eleven focus group discussions and one interview were conducted with 52 children (n = 29 girls) aged 9-12 years from two primary schools in Singapore. Data analyses were conducted using thematic analysis, deductively following the socio-ecological model (SEM) and inductively for themes at each SEM level.

Results: At individual level, children's perceived enjoyment, health benefits and expectation of rewards motivated them to engage in PA, while time constraints and their apathy towards PA hindered PA engagement. Children's PA occasions at home were reported to be influenced by parental permission, priorities and availability, and the availability of preferred peers. Physical environmental factors such as opportunities for PA in school, access to facilities for PA and weather influenced children's time spent on PA and the types of activities they engaged in.

Conclusion: This study summarized some factors that children have reported to influence their PA behaviour. These findings could help inform future interventions aimed at promoting PA among primary school children in Singapore.

Keywords: Perspectives of children; motivations; physical activity; qualitative research; socio-ecological model.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Summary of themes categorized into different levels of the SEM
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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