Saturday 18 October Papers / Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 18S (2014) e136–e162 e155

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What decreases motivation of students toparticipate in school-based extracurricularsports activities?

K. Aoyagi 1,∗, K. Ishii 2, A. Shibata 3, H. Arai 4,H. Fukamachi 1, K. Oka 2

1 Graduate School of Sport Sciences, WasedaUniversity, Japan2 Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, Japan3 Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences, University ofTsukuba, Japan4 Faculty of Letters, Hosei University, Japan

Introduction: Engagement in exercise and sports has been rec-ommended for adolescents to enhance physical fitness and healthydevelopment. Especially, school-based extracurricular sports activ-ities (SBECSA) are providing a major opportunity for adolescentsto play sports. Additionally, SBECSA contribute to positive youthdevelopment. By contrast, it is challenge for teachers and coachesto manage SBECSA with active participation of students. Althoughthere are some studies examined factors associated with motiva-tion of adolescents to participate in some sports, no study focusingon motivation to participate in SBECSA among them. Therefore, thepurpose of the present study was to examine the factors decreasingmotivation of students to participate in SBECSA.

Methods: Personal semi-structured interview was performedto 23 student members of 9 SBECSA that have external coach(men: n = 11; age range: 12–17 years). They were recruited from3 junior high schools and 3 high schools, 5 prefectures in Japan.To vary the characteristics of participants, purposeful samplingwas conducted. The interview contained predetermined open-ended questions about factors decreasing motivation to participatein SBECSA. Participants were asked to respond freely to thequestions and all topics were explored until exhausted. For anal-ysis, the KJ method—a qualitative type of analyses—was selected.Each recorded interview was transcribed verbatim. All transcribeddata were divided into individual content. Then, nearly identicalcontents were grouped together and consisted of ‘sub-categories’,and ‘categories’. Definition of each category was given by threeresearchers.

Results: Eight categories—uncomfortable climate of SBECSA(e.g. bad climate of SBECSA, and lack of unity among team mem-bers), undesirable coaching and indication (e.g. getting scorched,and inconsistency between self and coach’s assessment), badphysical condition (fatigue, feeling of unwellness, and injury),undesirable contents of practice (being not able to do desirablepractice, and hard training), lack of skill (being not able to playwell, and guiltiness to unskilled play), retirement of team mem-bers (retirement of older team members), problems in school life(a lot of homework), and bad weather (rainy)—were identified.

Discussion: The present study showed novel factors decreasingmotivation of students to participate in SBECSA, although a part ofresults were similar with previous study such as undesirable coach-ing and indication, and undesirable contents of practice. Teachersand coaches could increase motivation of students by makinggood climate of SBECSA and hearing students’ opinion for improvecontents of practice.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2014.11.171

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Promoting awareness, knowledge of andcompliance with the National Children’sPhysical Activity Guidelines

L. Phillipson 1,∗, D. Hall 1, T. Okely 2, S. Jones 1,D. Cliff 2, J.K. Lee 1, S. Vella 2, M. Chapman 1,L. Franco 3, T. Kirk-Downey 4

1 Centre For Health Initiatives, University ofWollongong, Australia2 Early Start Research Institute, University ofWollongong, Australia3 Health Promotion Unit, Illawarra Shoalhaven LocalHealth District, Australia4 Child & Family Services, Wollongong City Council,Australia

Introduction: In Australia, public awareness of the physicalactivity (PA) guidelines for children is disturbingly low. This isone contributor to the fact that only 20% of school-aged childrenare sufficiently active and meet the recommended ≥60 min/day ofmoderate-to-vigorous physical activity. The release of the revisedAustralian Physical Activity Guidelines for Children (5–12 years)in February 2014 prompted the need for a different approach toactively engage children and parents to improve knowledge, atti-tudes and uptake of the new guidelines to improve child health andwellbeing.

Methods: A multi-component social marketing intervention topromote the PA guidelines was conducted in three pilot schools in ametropolitan city, informed by qualitative research with children,parents and teachers. The intervention promoted key benefits of PA(social and fun) and overcame target audiences’ perceived barriersto uptake of the guidelines (inconvenient, expensive and difficult).Nine before-school events were held in three public schools, withup to 230 children at each event engaged in active games. Chil-dren took home active toys with tailored active homework andprinted information for parents. The PA guidelines were also pro-moted at a community level via a radio advertisement, a website(www.activeeveryday.org.au), posters, brochures, and postcardsdistributed to community organisations. The school interventionwas evaluated using a pre-post survey of parents at participatingschools.

Results: Analysis of matched pre/post survey responses (n = 79)found significant increases (p < 0.05) in: parent awareness of theguidelines (from 24% to 59%), knowledge of guideline content (from45% to 76%), mean scores for reported encouragement of their childto try a new physical activity (from 3.6 to 3.9); and decreases inmean scores for belief that being active for 60 min every day isdifficult for children to achieve (from 2.5 to 2.2). Finally there wasan overall increase in the mean number of days parents reportedtheir child participated in at least 60 min of physical activity (overthe past seven days) from 4.3 to 4.7.

Discussion: The social marketing approach proved useful toselect and research target audiences and to understand theirperceived benefits of, and barriers/competition to, achieving the PAguidelines. The current pilot was successful in moving knowledgeand experience of the PA guidelines from the school into the home(e.g. use of toys, trying of new skills, use of active homework) andinto the practice of teachers (e.g. prescription of PA homework).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2014.11.172