Omojor-Oche Joyce Ene Omenyo, Tempest Gavin Daniel, Hettinga Florentina, McCullogh Nicola
Department of Sport Exercise and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
Department of Human Movement Sciences, Faculty of Behavioural and Human Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
PLoS One. 2025 May 27;20(5):e0324781. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0324781. eCollection 2025.
Physical inactivity is a problem worldwide despite the well-known health benefits of physical activity participation. Children from ethnic minority groups report some of the lowest levels of physical activity. In trying to address this, the voices and perspectives of children, especially children from ethnic minority groups, are often overlooked. The primary purpose of this study was to identify and compare the perceived barriers and motivators to physical activity of children from ethnic minority groups and white British children in a UK city. A semi-structured interview on physical activity participation was conducted in English with 20 children aged 8-11 years old (9 from a range of different ethnic minority groups and 11 white British children). The data were coded and analysed via inductive thematic analysis using Nvivo-12. A total of three barriers and eight motivators were identified for both groups. The barriers to physical activity participation were structure of sports; inadequate resources; and children's social circle. The motivators were self-autonomy; self-confidence; enjoyment of physical activity; positive mental health and wellbeing; social circle; structure of sports; institutional motivators; and the introduction of more gender-balanced organised sports. Differences between groups were however noted amongst the subthemes, particularly in relation to barriers. For children from ethnic minority groups, barrier subthemes comprised parental barriers and obligations to siblings; lack of gender-balanced team sports; lack of variety of sports and lack of sporting equipment; and negative feedback from teammates. For white British children, barrier subthemes were lack of adequate play time in school and lack of financial resources. Such barriers may underpin differences in physical activity participation and should be considered in intervention design.
尽管参与体育活动对健康有益是众所周知的，但缺乏体育锻炼在全球范围内都是一个问题。少数民族群体的儿童体育活动水平是最低的。在试图解决这个问题时，儿童尤其是少数民族群体儿童的声音和观点常常被忽视。本研究的主要目的是识别和比较英国一个城市中少数民族群体儿童和英国白人儿童在体育活动方面感知到的障碍和动机。对20名8至11岁的儿童（9名来自不同少数民族群体，11名英国白人儿童）进行了关于体育活动参与情况的半结构化英语访谈。使用Nvivo - 12通过归纳主题分析对数据进行编码和分析。两组共识别出三个障碍和八个动机。体育活动参与的障碍包括体育项目的结构；资源不足；以及儿童的社交圈。动机包括自我自主性；自信心；对体育活动的享受；积极的心理健康和幸福感；社交圈；体育项目的结构；机构动机；以及引入更多性别均衡的有组织体育活动。然而，在子主题中注意到了两组之间的差异，特别是在障碍方面。对于少数民族群体的儿童，障碍子主题包括父母的障碍和对兄弟姐妹的义务；缺乏性别均衡的团队运动；体育项目种类少和体育器材缺乏；以及队友的负面反馈。对于英国白人儿童，障碍子主题是学校缺乏足够的玩耍时间和缺乏财政资源。这些障碍可能是体育活动参与差异的基础，在干预设计中应予以考虑。
