Understanding Parents’ Perceptions of Children’s Physical Activity

Currently, there is little research on mothers’ perceptions of the social support they provide for their children to be physically active, which could yield important information in the construction of interventions that promote active lifestyles in childhood. We conducted individual interviews and...

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Main Author: Carlos Eduardo Álvarez-Bogantes
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica 2019-02-01
Series:Revista Electrónica Educare
Subjects:
Online Access:http://revistas.una.ac.cr/index.php/EDUCARE/article/view/9653
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author Carlos Eduardo Álvarez-Bogantes
author_facet Carlos Eduardo Álvarez-Bogantes
author_sort Carlos Eduardo Álvarez-Bogantes
collection DOAJ
description Currently, there is little research on mothers’ perceptions of the social support they provide for their children to be physically active, which could yield important information in the construction of interventions that promote active lifestyles in childhood. We conducted individual interviews and three focus groups with 15 mothers of children 6 to 8 years old. The data were thematically analyzed using a qualitative approach, applying Ecological Model constructs to guide coding and categorization of results and the discussion of these results. The majority of mothers acknowledged that their sons and daughters were relatively less active and indicated that they perceived a need for increased physical activity among their children. The use of social support strategies was minimal, limited to accompanying their children. Mothers reported environmental factors such as cost, time constraints, lack of extracurricular-community activities and unsafe environments as the main barriers to their children’s physical activity. This study generated three main categories of results: the information gathered following the ecological model as a framework for analysis generated suggests that mothers are not aware of lack of physical activity of their children; mothers do not know ways to use social support for active lifestyles in their children, and recognize barriers to increase children’s physical activity. These research findings may contribute to health promotion strategies and programs that educate parents on how to effectively support their child in developing an active style of life.
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spelling doaj-art-21646b41a481453ca0bf467ee11d9a8d2025-08-20T02:56:27ZengUniversidad Nacional, Costa RicaRevista Electrónica Educare1409-42582019-02-0123211810.15359/ree.23-2.169653Understanding Parents’ Perceptions of Children’s Physical ActivityCarlos Eduardo Álvarez-Bogantes0Universidad NacionalCurrently, there is little research on mothers’ perceptions of the social support they provide for their children to be physically active, which could yield important information in the construction of interventions that promote active lifestyles in childhood. We conducted individual interviews and three focus groups with 15 mothers of children 6 to 8 years old. The data were thematically analyzed using a qualitative approach, applying Ecological Model constructs to guide coding and categorization of results and the discussion of these results. The majority of mothers acknowledged that their sons and daughters were relatively less active and indicated that they perceived a need for increased physical activity among their children. The use of social support strategies was minimal, limited to accompanying their children. Mothers reported environmental factors such as cost, time constraints, lack of extracurricular-community activities and unsafe environments as the main barriers to their children’s physical activity. This study generated three main categories of results: the information gathered following the ecological model as a framework for analysis generated suggests that mothers are not aware of lack of physical activity of their children; mothers do not know ways to use social support for active lifestyles in their children, and recognize barriers to increase children’s physical activity. These research findings may contribute to health promotion strategies and programs that educate parents on how to effectively support their child in developing an active style of life.http://revistas.una.ac.cr/index.php/EDUCARE/article/view/9653physical activitysocial supportbarrierschildrenmothers' perception
spellingShingle Carlos Eduardo Álvarez-Bogantes
Understanding Parents’ Perceptions of Children’s Physical Activity
Revista Electrónica Educare
physical activity
social support
barriers
children
mothers' perception
title Understanding Parents’ Perceptions of Children’s Physical Activity
title_full Understanding Parents’ Perceptions of Children’s Physical Activity
title_fullStr Understanding Parents’ Perceptions of Children’s Physical Activity
title_full_unstemmed Understanding Parents’ Perceptions of Children’s Physical Activity
title_short Understanding Parents’ Perceptions of Children’s Physical Activity
title_sort understanding parents perceptions of children s physical activity
topic physical activity
social support
barriers
children
mothers' perception
url http://revistas.una.ac.cr/index.php/EDUCARE/article/view/9653
work_keys_str_mv AT carloseduardoalvarezbogantes understandingparentsperceptionsofchildrensphysicalactivity