Program to Promote Physical Activity and Healthy Habits in Adolescents

Overview

The main objective of the research project presented is to improve physical activity levels in adolescents who present rates of diagnosed active impairment through the design, development and evaluation of a multidisciplinary intervention program of physical activity to promote healthier lifestyles . This program will follow the principles of the Theory of Self-determination, using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), a training plan for monitors, teachers and parents, with the aim of achieving greater adherence to the sports practice of adolescents from Extremadura, with the benefits at a psychosocial, cognitive and biological level that this entails.

The main objective of the research project presented is to improve physical activity levels in adolescents who present rates of diagnosed active impairment through the design, development and evaluation of a multidisciplinary intervention program of physical activity to promote healthier lifestyles . This program will follow the principles of the Theory of Self-determination, using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), a training plan for monitors, teachers and parents, with the aim of achieving greater adherence to the sports practice of adolescents from Extremadura, with the benefits at a psychosocial, cognitive and biological level that this entails. Students of 1st and 2nd year of E.S.O would be part of this project. of different educational centers of the Autonomous Community of Extremadura and the set of professors of the mentioned centers. Through the initial measurement made to 1st and 2nd year students of E.S.O, children who do not perform sufficient physical activity and can be part of the intervention study will be identified. In this way, identified young people who do not perform physical activity or do not reach minimum recommendable values, will be grouped by means of the sampling of random selection by conglomerates in a control group and an experimental group. Overall, the investigatos would expect to have a total of about 240 male and female students, with ages between 11 and 15 years, where about 120 students would be part of the experimental group and another 120 students would form the control group. Indirectly, parents of students and teachers in the area of Physical Education who will collaborate in different activities and events would also participate. To achieve the objectives of the project, a quasi-experimental methodology would be carried out, with an ABA'-A'' design, formed by a first phase of initial evaluation of the psychosocial and biological variables that the investigators are going to try to optimize, a second phase that would consist of the intervention based on different procedures developed throughout an academic course, a third phase of final evaluation of the different variables that aims to assess the effects of the intervention and the usefulness of the program, and a fourth phase with an extinction measure, aimed at evaluating the stability of the effects caused by the program. The benefits of this project would be framed in different levels. In the first place, the main benefit would be obtained by the direct recipients of the project, that is, the adolescents who would see their physical activity levels increased with the positive consequences that this entails and with the development of healthier living habits. Secondly, Physical Education teachers could have new methodological and motivational tools to encourage more physical activity among their students; and the parents of these, could value the importance of physical activity and lead an active lifestyle, collaborating from the family environment to promote the objectives of this project.