Comprehensive school health: teachers' perceptions and implementation of classroom physical activity breaks in US schools.

Modifications to the social-ecological model, such as Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) frameworks, have been utilized in comprehensive school health interventions. Classroom physical activity breaks are used when implementing whole-of-school approaches. However, the onus to implement classroom physical activity breaks is on school stakeholders. This study aimed to explore teacher and principal perceptions and implementation of physical activity breaks in elementary schools. Further, this study investigated how theoretical factors representative of the social-ecological model and their interactions affect teacher and principal perceptions and utilization of classroom physical activity breaks. Interviews were conducted to understand teacher and principal perceptions and implementation. A total of 12 classroom teachers and five principals participated in semi-structured interviews which were analyzed using constant comparison and deductive analysis to identify relationships and themes coded across the social-ecological and WSCC models. To ensure fidelity individuals that led the professional development (n = 2) were also interviewed. Three main themes emerged as part of the data analysis: (i) The Connection Between Intrapersonal Knowledge and Interpersonal Professional Development, (ii) Resources, Sharing Means Caring and (iii) The Policy Level Creates Time. Teachers and principals valued knowledge and resources and felt that policy facilitated implementation. Results suggest that classroom physical activity breaks are influenced by multiple factors across varied levels of the social-ecological model. Understanding this relationship can inform future professional development to increase the provision of classroom physical activity breaks among teachers.

Global health statistics suggest that youth health is deteriorating. In response, international and national health organizations have called for school settings to adopt comprehensive school health approaches that provide youth with ample opportunities, such as physical activity across the school day, to improve their health behaviors and instill lifelong healthy habits. This study used the social­ecological model, which considers the interactions between an individual, their community, and the physical, social and political environments, to frame the exploration of how teachers and principals perceive and utilize physical activity breaks in elementary schools. Findings indicate that to foster school health, a comprehensive approach that supports teachers and their interactions while providing resources and policies is needed. Adoption of classroom physical activity breaks begins with teacher knowledge which fosters teacher interaction where best practices are built. Structural supports, including access to resources and the presence of policy, are also critical to sustained implementation because they can reinforce and support teachers' individual and shared use of health-based learning practices across the school day.

Prolonged Sitting in University Students: An Intra-Individual Study Exploring Physical Activity Value as a Deterrent.

University students are a subpopulation of young adults highly susceptible to prolonged bouts of sitting. The purpose of this study was to investigate university students' intra-individual patterns of prolonged daily sitting, exploring gender and physical activity value beliefs as covariates. A total of 71 students reported the number of days each week they spent in bouts of prolonged sitting (2 + continuous hours) over a five-week timeframe. The findings revealed that at the beginning of the study, the students spent about four days per week in prolonged bouts of sitting although there was substantial variability in the sample. Intra-individual changes over the five weeks occurred in a non-linear fashion with a variability in these trajectories. Men reported approximately one less day of prolonged sitting per week although gender did not predict changes over time. Physical activity value beliefs were negatively related to prolonged bouts of sitting when averaged across time. The results illustrate the variable nature of prolonged sitting in university student populations, highlighting the need for implementing individualized intervention strategies targeting sedentary behavior.

Expanding the Discrete Emotions in Physical Education Scale (DEPES): Evaluating Emotions With Behavior and Learning.

Purpose: Students' affective experiences represent essential physical education (PE) learning outcomes. However, measuring these essential internal processes and understanding how they relate to behaviors has been difficult and limited thus far. The purpose of this study was to expand the Discrete Emotions in Physical Education Scale (DEPES) from the original three in-activity emotions (enjoyment, boredom, and anger) to include three additional outcome-related emotions (pride, shame, and relief). Method: Exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) analyses investigated the factor structure for the DEPES expansion with middle school (i.e., 6th, 7th, & 8th grade) students from the United States (N = 495; Mage = 11.96 (SD = .98), 57% Female). Additionally, we examined predictive validity with relevant outcomes including perceived social competence, disruptive behavior, and multiple meta-cognitive knowledge beliefs (declarative, conditional, and procedural). Results: ESEM for the six emotions showed good model fit. Standardized factor loadings yielded strong primary loadings with minimal cross loading, suggesting discriminant validity for both in-activity and outcome-related emotions. Also, predictive validity of students' disruptive behavior (21%), social competence (40%), and metacognitive knowledge (40-57%), accounted for a significant portion of knowledge variance. Conclusion: The six emotions measured by the DEPES can provide clear and precise information on students' affective experiences in PE. Furthermore, measuring a variety of discrete emotions can help researchers/teachers capture unique motivational tendencies in students' behavior and knowledge. The evidence speaks to how limiting general positive/negative affect may be when trying to understand students' motivation/behaviors in PE. Overall, the DEPES can make valuable contributions to PE research and practice.

Emotion and Motivation Consequences of Attributional Training During a Novel Physical Task.

Purpose: Students' positive emotional experiences are an essential physical education outcome because they promote achievement-oriented cognition and behavior. The manner in which students attribute success and failure triggers emotional experiences. Students' beliefs that success is under their control are thought to be a precursor to positive emotions. Research on these relationships has mostly been observational; thus, experimental design was used to address this gap. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of attributional training (AT) on students' emotions and motivation toward a PE-related task. Method: Participants were female university students (N = 144; Mage = 20.92, SD = 2.13) recruited from Kinesiology courses. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the three experimental treatments (high AT = 46; low AT = 49; control = 49). Each treatment group received targeted control belief prompts, instruction, and feedback while learning a novel task. Data were collected on students' emotions and motivation before and after treatment. Results: Repeated measures analysis showed that participants receiving high AT increased enjoyment and reduced boredom over time compared to other groups. Feelings of anxiety trended down over time in all three groups while feelings of relief trended up. Free-choice activity did not show a significant group by time interaction. Conclusion: Our results show that AT can influence control beliefs in ways that increase students' enjoyment and reduce boredom in physical education tasks. Therefore, training physical education teachers to create a high AT learning environment appears to be a viable strategy for promoting adaptive emotions when students are learning novel tasks.

Young Adults' Short-Term Trajectories of Moderate Physical Activity: Relations With Self-Evaluation Processes.

Young adults face numerous barriers that can undermine their engagement in healthy behaviors. For example, young adults on average experience disproportionally large declines in physical activity (PA) participation compared to other demographic groups. Self-evaluation processes may help explain these declines. This study investigated young adults' weekly trajectories of moderate physical activity, exploring self-evaluation processes, including self-efficacy and shame as time-varying covariates. A total of 71 young adults (Mage = 21.25, SD = 1.18; 55% male) reported moderate physical activity, exercise self-efficacy, and anticipated shame toward exercise once a week for 5 weeks. Latent growth curve models showed that a linear slope fit these data better than alternative models. Parameters of the linear model revealed that these young adults reported engaging in 40 min of moderate PA approximately 3 days per week. However, there were physical activity differences in initial levels and rates of change. Exercise self-efficacy consistently predicted physical activity in a positive direction and with a small-to-medium magnitude. Anticipated shame was an inconsistent predictor of physical activity, showing a negative direction and small magnitude at time one and on average across the 5 weeks. These findings highlight considerable variability in young adults' short-term trajectories of physical activity and underscore both positive and negative processes of exercise related self-evaluations. Future physical activity interventions targeting young adults should incorporate strategies that enhance self-efficacy (e.g., mastery experiences) and reduce feelings of shame (e.g., attribution training).