For the last three years I have been trying to answer one question, how do we effectively communicate physical activity with adolescents in schools (note, I said “with” rather than “to” here, I will come back to this later). Today I will let you in on some of my key learnings to date.
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Before going any further it is important to acknowledge our colleagues in Edinburgh who paved the way by developing a physical activity messaging framework and checklist and also the Active School Flag post-primary programme from which the idea for this research stemmed. The context in which we promote physical activity: The school is one of the most common settings in which physical activity is promoted although, it is not the only place. The home, community, online, sports organisation or a combination of these are also common physical activity promoting setting. As a large proportion of adolescents’ lives revolve around school and due to our access to schools through partnerships we decided to focus on this setting early on. Physical activity promotion is not new to schools, in Ireland alone there have been many successful initiatives developed such as the Youth Physical Activity Towards Health, Walking In Schools and Active School Flag to name some. Very quickly we discovered that few school-based physical activity programmes focused on the communication of physical activity messages and alas we found our gap! The content of the physical activity messages we promote: There are many factors to consider when constructing the content of a physical activity message (Williamson et al., 2021). This framework was used in the development of the Updated National Physical Activity Guidelines for Ireland accompanying messages for the public (Murtagh et al., 2023). For adolescents the following considerations are important when communicating physical activity messages: – Where possible, tailor messages to the individual – Positively framed – Ensure the language is age-appropriate – Provide strategies to overcome barriers to being physically active – Tips for becoming physically active – Involve adolescents in decision making – Be inclusive and diverse The delivery of the message: This considers the platform in which the message is communicated, the person doing the communicating and type of message. The following should be considered when communicating physical activity with adolescents: – Use multiple platforms to deliver the message i.e. social media, posters and in-person announcements – Peers are important sources for communicating physical activity messages so get them involved e.g. class rep or physical activity champion – Use a mix of visuals, text and sound So what is missing? Very few studies considered the adolescents’ voice in relation to the timing and delivery of messages. Participatory research is one such way to involve stakeholders and young people in decision making about problems or factors that involve them. Peer support is an important factor to consider for physical activity promotion amongst adolescents. It can be a benefit i.e. doing physical activity is a good opportunity to spend time with friends or they can be key influential people in delivering physical activity messages. We decided to undergo a co-creation process with students and staff to co-develop resources that will help communicate physical activity better within the school (this is the “with” I mentioned earlier). Watch this space for more on communicating physical activity with adolescents. Acknowledgements All of the schools from the Active School Flag programme. The COMMUNICATE Study steering group members. My funders, the Irish Research Council. The PAfH research centre, the Active School Flag research team and my supervisors. References Williamson, C., Baker, G., Tomasone, J.R. et al. The Physical Activity Messaging Framework (PAMF) and Checklist (PAMC): International consensus statement and user guide. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 18, 164 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-021-01230-8 Murtagh, E., Power, D., Foster, C., Murphy, M., Healy, S., Hayes, G., Murphy, N., Woods, C., Williamson, C. (2023) Update of the National Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines for Ireland. Final Research Report.
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Caera Grady is a 4th year PhD student and is supervised by Prof Catherine Woods and Prof Elaine Murtagh. Her research focuses on physical activity promotion in the school setting specifically with adolescents. She uses mixed methods to explore complex intervention implementation and evaluation, co-creation and participatory research. Contact Caera via email: caera.grady@ul.ie or on X @caeragrady2011
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