School Staff’s Perspectives on the Adoption of Elementary-School Physical Activity Approaches: A Qualitative Study

ABSTRACT

Background: There is a need to understand how schools adopt physical activity approaches (curricula, programs and practices), but few studies report on this process. Purpose: To obtain elementary school staff’s perspectives regarding how their schools are currently adopting physical activity approaches. Methods: We recruited 15 participants from four job types in an urban Texas school district to participate in semi-structured interviews. We coded and analyzed interviews using directed content analysis and iterative categorization. Results: We identified four themes pertaining to how the district, schools, and teachers contribute to the adoption of approaches. Themes included: (1) Staff identify new approaches through numerous channels; (2) Adoption occurs at multiple organizational levels; (3) District staff fulfilled a supporting role in the adoption process; and (4) School staff’s perceptions of approach characteristics influence adoption. Discussion: We found that schools adopt physical activity approaches at both the district- and school-level. Additionally, multiple stakeholders played a role in the adoption process and those roles varied across approaches. Translation to Health Education Practice: Time, money, space, staff, competing priorities, limited information, the school’s mission, and the benefits an approach provides to children are factors that researchers and practitioners should consider when starting a new physical activity approach.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge all of the teachers and staff who participated in the interview process. Without their willingness to share their valuable insights, this work would not be possible. This research was made possible in part by the Center for Energy Balance in Cancer Prevention and Survivorship, and the Duncan Family Institute for Cancer Prevention and Risk Assessment at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Data Availability

Data and interview guide are available from authors upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health Cancer Education and Career Development Program grant from the National Cancer Institute (R25 CA057712) and a research career development award for (K12HD052023): Building Interdisciplinary Research Career in Women’s Health Program-BIRCWH; Berenson, PI) from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health awarded to Dr. Walker. Preparation of this manuscript was funded in part by The National Cancer Institute/NIH Grant-National Cancer Institute/NIH Grant T32/CA057712, awarded to the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health Cancer Education and Career Development Program. Partial funding was provided by the Michael & Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living for Jacob Szeszulski for his contribution. Michael C. Robertson was supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under award number F31 CA236433. None of the funding agencies played any role in the design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or reporting of data from this study. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Cancer Institute or the National Institutes of Health.