GAVIN, J.
Concordia University
HARVEY, W. McGill University
SRG 2009
Français
This proposal builds on the initial results of our SSHRC RDI grant (2/2007-2/2009) entitled, Building Tools to Help Adolescents Discover Personal Pathways to Health and Physical Fitness. 1,096 adolescents (age 13-18) participated in this initial effort, providing perspectives about physical activity and sports in 123 focus groups.
The aims of the upcoming investigations are to further develop, validate and implement a guidance system for use in high school physical education programs that will increase student understanding of, and participation in, regular physical activity (cf. Baranowski, Anderson, & Carmack, 1998). This research relies on a model of person-activity matching wherein relevant psychosocial patterns of adolescents are paired with comparable characteristics that are embedded in physical activities (Gavin, 1988, 2005a).
The research plan calls for four studies organized to create and validate tools and curriculum content. The studies will begin with the generation of physical activity profiles and psychosocial measures for adolescents. The final study will take the form of a field experiment where the tools and teaching curriculum are evaluated for impacts on adolescents’ physical activity participation and enjoyment throughout the school year.
Completion of this program of research should result in a structured guidance program with measurement tools and curriculum content that can be integrated into a high school’s physical education curriculum in service of increasing adolescents’ involvement in and satisfaction with regular physical activity. While adding to the literature concerning self-determination theory and self-congruence models, this research program is expected to have significant practical implications for the work of physical educators, recreation specialists, sports and fitness professionals, and other professionals whose concerns center around the health and well-being of Canadian youth.
The research program will be initiated in January 2010.
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