The Solutions

Written By Dr. Scott Rollo

Youth are markedly more receptive to being introduced to and partaking in lifestyle behaviour changes than are adults.(1) The greatest determinant for whether an adult will be physically active is if they were active as a child.(1-4) It follows that, for a child to have the greatest likelihood of being healthy and active as an adult, they need to be given the opportunity to gain ownership and agency over their health as a student.

Being active, and being supported in that pursuit, while navigating the school years must be a cornerstone of the educational experience, as this will be the only chance for most students to thrive as healthier adults. (2, 5-7) Healthy behaviours laid down while in school drive health outcomes decades later. School matters!

A key objective of education is to graduate autonomous, empowered young adults who make healthy lifestyle choices with healthy minds. In junior high and high school, education focusing on healthy lifestyle practices and behaviours is mostly delivered in the classroom. Physical education is scheduled in a time-slotted block where students experience little autonomy in building scheduling self-efficacy for being active. These in-class scheduled experiences make it difficult to build autonomous self-directed learners with high self-efficacy for and agency over being active. The goal to graduate young adults who have agency and ownership over their health and wellbeing so they will make healthier choices as adults remains at odds with telling them when they will be active and what they will do.

Research on self-efficacy and habit formation with respect to physical activity indicates the following:

  1. The likelihood of an adult participating in activity is strongly correlated with the level of self-efficacy they have for that activity. (7-10)

  2. Key to participation or lack of participation in an activity is the level of scheduling self-efficacy for that activity. (8)

  3. Self-efficacy grows when individuals are given the choice to organize, initiate, and direct their participation in an activity. (6,11,12)

  4. A greater self-efficacy for healthy habits is key to gaining agency for one’s health and life. (5, 6, 7, 8 13)

  5. Support is a cornerstone in adopting and implementing healthier behaviours into one’s life. Challenges encountered are less likely to become barriers when support and guidance are available. (7, 8, 14,)

We know that engaging in regular physical activity greatly improves physical health and mental wellbeing. (8, 15, 16, 17) The challenge for health education programming in schools is the lack of resources to support students in participating in healthy activities at home, where meaningful lifestyle transformation happens. PHIT Canada Schools targets that.

Successful habit formation requires support, accountability, connectivity, and autonomy. (7, 11, 12, 18) The student must be the architect of their lifestyle, anchored by support in establishing key habit changes that overcome the challenges to being active. All educators have roles in supporting healthy habits, but the real lifestyle intervention work and transformation must take place at home, in daily life. Students need to pursue self-initiated, self-directed activities at home, day by day, supported by teachers in a scalable manner with little impact on the most limited resource—the educator’s time. This is what the PHIT Canada – Healthy Habits Start Here® partnership (powered by GoGet.Fit®) delivers.

It is well documented that being inactive throughout high school and graduating with a low self-efficacy for activity results in a trajectory of inactivity throughout life as an adult. (19-21) Also well documented are the consequences—acquiring lifestyle-related diseases from leading a life of inactivity. (2, 3, 15, 16, 22- 26) The power of school is that what happens during the school years travels with you throughout life, with few exceptions. This is the “why” behind PHIT Canada and the solutions we deliver to teachers, students and families.

References

  1. Kahlert, Daniela. (2015). Maintenance of physical activity: Do we know what we are talking about?. Preventive Medicine Reports. 2. 178-180. 10.1016/j.pmedr.2015.02.013.

  2. Lounassalo, I., Salin, K., Kankaanpää, A. et al. “Distinct trajectories of physical activity and related factors during the life course in the general population: a systematic review.” BMC Public Health 19, 271 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-6513-y

  3. Telama, Risto. “Tracking of physical activity from childhood to adulthood: a review.” Obesity facts vol. 2,3 (2009): 187-95. doi:10.1159/000222244.

  4. Tammelin, Tuija et al. “Adolescent participation in sports and adult physical activity.” American journal of preventive medicine vol. 24,1 (2003): 22-8. doi:10.1016/s0749-3797(02)00575-5

  5. Tsang, Sandra K M et al. “Self-efficacy as a positive youth development construct: a conceptual review.” TheScientificWorldJournal vol. 2012 (2012): 452327. doi:10.1100/2012/452327

  6. Dominika Kwasnicka , Nikos Ntoumanis & Falko F. Sniehotta (2020): Setting performance and learning goals is useful for active and inactive individuals, if goals are personalized and flexible: commentary on Swann et al. (2020), Health Psychology Review, DOI: 10.1080/17437199.2020.1762107

  7. Kohlstedt, Sarah S. et al “Psychological Factors influencing Exercise Adherence among Females” Psychology Vol.4 No.12(2013), Paper ID 40484, 7 pages DOI:10.4236/psych.2013.412132 Psychology 2013. Vol.4, No.12, 917-923

  8. Alberta Survey on Physical Activity 2015 https://www.centre4activeliving.ca/media/filer_public/14/7e/147e03f9-1799-43a1-ac3b-3 9c7697e161d/2015-ab-survey-physical-activity-report.pdf

  9. Rodgers, Wendy M., and Michael J. L. Sullivan. “Task, Coping, and Scheduling Self-Efficacy in Relation to Frequency of Physical Activity.” Journal of Applied Social Psychology, vol. 31, no. 4, 2001, pp. 741–753., doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2001.tb01411.x.

  10. Hamilton, Kyra, et al. “The Role of Self-Efficacy and Friend Support on Adolescent Vigorous Physical Activity.” Health Education & Behavior, vol. 44, no. 1, Feb. 2017, pp. 175–181, doi:10.1177/1090198116648266.

  11. Samdal, Gro Beate et al. “Effective behaviour change techniques for physical activity and healthy eating in overweight and obese adults; systematic review and meta-regression analyses.” The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity vol. 14,1 42. 28 Mar. 2017, doi:10.1186/s12966-017-0494-y

  12. Olander, E.K., Fletcher, H., Williams, S. et al. What are the most effective techniques in changing obese individuals’ physical activity self-efficacy and behaviour: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 10, 29 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-10-29

  13. Kahlert, Daniela. (2015). Maintenance of physical activity: Do we know what we are talking about?. Preventive Medicine Reports. 2. 178-180. 10.1016/j.pmedr.2015.02.013.

  14. O’Brien, Wesley et al. “Relationship between Physical Activity, Screen Time and Weight Status among Young Adolescents.” Sports (Basel, Switzerland) vol. 6,3 57. 23 Jun. 2018, doi:10.3390/sports6030057

  15. Hills, Andrew P et al. “The contribution of physical activity and sedentary behaviours to the growth and development of children and adolescents: implications for overweight and obesity.” Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) vol. 37,6 (2007): 533-45. doi:10.2165/00007256-200737060-00006

  16. Penedo, Frank J, and Jason R Dahn. “Exercise and well-being: a review of mental and physical health benefits associated with physical activity.” Current opinion in psychiatry vol. 18,2 (2005): 189-93. doi:10.1097/00001504-200503000-00013

  17. Harold W. Kohl, I., Cook, H., Environment, C., Board, F. and Medicine, I. (2018). Physical Activity and Physical Education: Relationship to Growth, Development, and Health. [online] Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK201497/\ [Accessed 22 Mar. 2018].

  18. Rees, R. et al. “Young people and physical activity: a systematic review matching their views to effective interventions”, Health Education Research, Volume 21, Issue 6, December 2006, Pages 806–825, https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyl120

  19. How Healthy Are Canadians? A Trend Analysis Of The Health Of Canadians From A Healthy Living And Chronic Disease Perspective Public Health Agency of Canada https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/phac-aspc/documents/services/publications/healthy living/how-healthy-canadians/pub1-eng.pdf

  20. How Healthy are Canadians? https://health-infobase.canada.ca/datalab/healthy-canadians-interactive.html

  21. Myer, Gregory D et al. “Exercise deficit disorder in youth: a paradigm shift toward disease prevention and comprehensive care.” Current sports medicine reports vol. 12,4 (2013): 248-55. doi:10.1249/JSR.0b013e31829a74cd

  22. Obesity and overweight reports [Internet]. World Health Organization. 2018 [cited22 March 2018]. Available from: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/

  23. Health characteristics of children and youth aged 1 to 17 years, Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth 2019 https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1310076301

  24. Borodulin K, et al. “Leisure time physical activity in a 22-year follow-up among Finnish adults.” Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2012;9:121. https://doi.org/10.1186/1479-5868-9-121

  25. Paffenbarger, R S Jr et al. “Physical activity, all-cause mortality, and longevity of college alumni.” The New England journal of medicine vol. 314,10 (1986): 605-13. doi:10.1056/NEJM198603063141003

  26. 11. Murphy M.H., Carlin A., Woods C., Nevill A., MacDonncha C., Ferguson K., Murphy N. Active students are healthier and happier than their inactive peers: The results of a large representative cross-sectional study of university students in Ireland. J. Phys. Act. Health. 2018;15:737–746. doi: 10.1123/jpah.2017-0432

Dr. Scott Rollo
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