Department of Health Promotion and Education, Faculty of Public Health, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
BMC Public Health. 2021 Dec 19;21(1):2302. doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-12327-x.
Insufficient physical activity (PA) is a growing public health challenge among Nigerian adolescents. Significant information gap exists on the school-related factors which influence the participation of adolescents in school-based physical activity programmes in Nigeria. This study was conducted to document the qualitative views of school principals and teachers on the barriers and opportunities for promoting the physical activity behaviours of adolescents within the school settings in light of the socio-ecological model.
This was a qualitative study conducted in 12 public and private schools in two local government areas of Oyo state, Nigeria. Two key sources and data collection methods (i.e key informant interviews and focus group discussions) were used. Six key informant interviews were held with school principals and six focus group discussions with classroom teachers using pre-tested guides. Data was analysed using thematic analysis.
Fourteen sub-themes were identified as barriers to PA and linked to different levels of the socio-ecological model. Three themes were categorised as parental factors, three themes as socio-cultural and religious factors while the school-related factors had eight sub-themes. Specifically, the school-related barriers were the declining number of trained physical health education teachers, limited opportunities for continuing education and low prioritisation of physical health education. Other school-related factors such as increasing demand for classroom academic time, negative attitudinal dispositions of other teachers and inadequate funding for schools which hampered the provision of facilities and equipment were identified as factors that limit the effective implementation of policies and programmes for physical activity in schools. Opportunities to promote PA within the school settings during assemblies, breaktime, after-school and inter-house sports competition exist. However, these opportunities are hampered by competing academic time, security threats, fear of causalities to students due to poor supervision after school, poor funding and brawling associated with competitive school-based sporting events.
Factors that contribute to insufficient physical activity among in-school adolescents in the school settings are multi-factorial. Implementation of holistic, multi-component interventions which address the social-cultural and school-level factors and enhance students' opportunities for physical activity in schools are recommended.
体力活动不足（PA）是尼日利亚青少年日益严重的公共卫生挑战。关于影响尼日利亚青少年参与基于学校的体育活动计划的学校相关因素，存在着显著的信息差距。本研究旨在根据社会生态学模式，记录中学校长和教师对促进青少年在学校环境中进行体育活动行为的障碍和机会的定性观点。
这是在尼日利亚奥约州两个地方政府区的 12 所公立和私立学校进行的一项定性研究。使用了两个主要信息来源和数据收集方法（即关键知情人访谈和焦点小组讨论）。与学校校长进行了 6 次关键知情人访谈，与课堂教师进行了 6 次焦点小组讨论，使用了预先测试的指南。使用主题分析对数据进行分析。
确定了 14 个作为 PA 障碍的次级主题，并与社会生态学模型的不同层次相关联。三个主题被归类为父母因素，三个主题被归类为社会文化和宗教因素，而与学校相关的因素有八个次级主题。具体而言，与学校相关的障碍包括受过培训的健康教育教师人数减少、继续教育机会有限以及对健康教育的重视程度较低。其他与学校相关的因素，如课堂学术时间需求增加、其他教师的消极态度以及学校资金不足，这些因素阻碍了为学校提供设施和设备，这些都被认为是限制学校有效实施体育活动政策和计划的因素。在集会上、课间休息、课后和校际体育比赛中存在促进学校内 PA 的机会。然而，这些机会受到竞争学术时间、安全威胁、放学后因监督不力而导致学生伤亡的恐惧、资金不足以及与竞争性学校体育活动相关的争吵的阻碍。
导致学校青少年体力活动不足的因素是多方面的。建议实施全面的、多方面的干预措施，解决社会文化和学校层面的因素，并增加学生在学校进行体育活动的机会。
