Effects of school-based interventions on motivation towards physical activity in children and adolescents: protocol for a systematic review

Participating in regular exercise and physical activity (PA) has been shown to benefit physical, mental, and social health as well as academic performance [1‐4]. The World Health Organization recommends 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) per day for children and adolescents aged 5–17 years [5]. However, based on self-report data, in most European countries, less than 50% of children and adolescents follow these guidelines [6]. An analysis of device-based measured global PA data of 13–15-year-old adolescents, collected from 105 countries, revealed that 80.3% did not meet the recommended activity guidelines [7].

A school setting is ideal for implementing interventions aimed to increase PA levels because entire groups of children and adolescents, regardless of their socio-economic or migration status, can be addressed [8]. Although physical education (PE) offers children and adolescents an opportunity to be physically active [1], decreased levels of PA in PE have been observed, accompanied by lower physical fitness levels in children and adolescents [9]. Strategies to promote PA during PE have shown to increase overall time spent being physically active as well as participation in PE [10]. School-based PA interventions were found to not only positively affect PA and motor performance, but also benefit health outcomes and exercise knowledge in children and adolescents [10‐12]. In a previous study, members of our research team found the school-based intervention effects on PA behavior to be partially mediated by self-efficacy [11]. A detailed evaluation of mediating factors of energy balance-related behavior found evidence for a mediated effect of self-regulation, enjoyment, intrinsic motivation, and autonomy support on physical activity [13]. Since mediating variables explain the causal sequence between the intervention and the outcome, the identification of relevant mediators can increase effectiveness of future interventions [13]. Intervention developers should therefore disclose the theoretical base of their intervention including the mediating variables along with the applied intervention strategies. Only then is it possible to draw conclusions as to which strategies are effective in changing mediators of a certain behavior [13].

Several theoretical frameworks exist on which interventions to promote physical activity can be based on. The self-determination theory (SDT) [14] has been found to be an appropriate theoretical framework for developing health intervention programs and for understanding the motivations of children and adolescents towards PA [15, 16]. When implementing the SDT in health intervention studies, the focus is directed “on the processes through which a person acquires the motivation for initiating new health-related behaviours and maintaining them over time” [17]. Within SDT, different types of motivation can be characterized along the autonomy-control continuum, depending upon the degree to which autonomous or controlled regulations are represented [18]. Autonomous behavior is characterized by the extent to which an individual agrees, and is willing, to engage in a certain behavior, i.e., the degree to which an individual is intrinsically motivated to act. Intrinsically motivated behavior is accompanied by a feeling of effectance and enjoyment [18]. Controlled behavior, on the other hand, is led by a consequence of external reward, social approval, or avoidance of punishment. Yet, extrinsically motivated behavior can also be experienced as autonomous when the behavior is associated with valued or important outcomes [18]. Hence, behavior can be externally regulated (controlled by external forces the individual does not agree with) or can be controlled through introjection, in which case an individual acts to receive self- or external approval, and avoid feelings of guilt, shame and disapproval [17, 18]. Amotivation can be described as a state of passiveness, a lack of intentionality and motivation to act, and can be based on a feeling of lack of competence or arise from a lack of interest, relevance, or value in a given action [14, 18].

With respect to a targeted behavior, SDT assumes that the development of intrinsic motivation requires the satisfaction of three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness [14, 17]. Regarding health behavior, autonomy and competence are crucial for the processes of internalization and integration of health-beneficial behaviors like PA [14, 17]. Creating an autonomy supportive environment can increase adherence and health outcomes [14, 17]. Furthermore, for individuals to adopt health-beneficial behaviors and its values, a sense of belonging needs to be met [17]. Satisfaction of these psychological needs has been associated with better health-related outcomes, such as increased PA [17].

Building upon the SDT, the Hierarchical Model of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation by Vallerand [19] considers intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation on a situational, contextual, and global level. According to this theoretical model, motivation varies both in its type and in its level of generality. Specifically, situational motivation can be described as motivation during a specific task in PE, while contextual motivation can be described as motivation towards PE in general. Global motivation describes the general motivation personality. The different types of motivation exist within the individual at the three different levels of generality [19]. Almolda et al. [20] assume that interventions successful in changing situational motivation could affect contextual motivation (i.e., physical education in general) and finally global motivation, leading to a healthy lifestyle.

Another theory, focusing on classroom motivation, is the Achievement Goal Theory, where goal orientations are grouped into performance goal orientation and mastery goal orientation. Performance goal orientation is characterized by being successful without much effort, outperforming others and being judged based upon ability. Mastery goal orientation is characterized by developing new skills, valuing the process of learning and attainment of mastery [21]. Ames and Archer [21] reported that students perceiving an emphasis on mastery goals used effective learning strategies, preferred challenging tasks, and had a more positive attitude towards class. Perception of performance goal orientations were negatively related to attitudes and self-perception of ability [21]. In the context of PE, Goudas and Biddle [22] found that the mastery dimension was present not only when self-improvement was valued and effort was rewarded rather than ability, but also when students felt the teacher took personal interest in them and were involved in decision-making.

Motivational teaching strategies to increase students’ motivation in PE have been developed and include amongst others the Task, Authority, Recognition, Grouping, Evaluation, Time (TARGET) approach [23, 24]; the Sport Education Model [25]; and Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) approach [26].

Systematic reviews have pointed out that the effects of PA interventions within a school setting on PA behavior are for the most part small, for example, an increase in 2.6 min of PE-related PA [10, 11, 27]. Additionally, the effects on PA behavior may decline in the long term, due to a decrease in motivational constructs [28]. Inconclusive results were found when examining the effects of school-based PA interventions on enjoyment, which is linked to intrinsic motivation [18]. Dudley et al. [27] was not able to determine effects of PA interventions on enjoyment outcomes due to poor methodological quality of the reviewed studies and their statistical power. The findings of a meta-analysis by Burns et al. [28] indicated significant effects of school-based intervention strategies on PA enjoyment, with a true population effect of small-to-moderate magnitude. Their results were also limited due to the methodological heterogeneity of the examined studies [28]. A meta-analysis conducted by Braithwaite, Spray [29], showed that motivational climate interventions in PE had small overall treatment effects (g = 0.103) in groups exposed to mastery motivational climates [29]. The largest treatment effects were found for behavioral outcomes (g = 0.39–0.49), followed by affective (e.g., attitudes, dedication, enjoyment) (g = − 0.27 to 0.59), and cognitive outcomes (e.g., anxiety, competence, perception of motivational climate, ability and effort) (g = − 0.25 to 0.32) [29].

In summary, the introduced reviews and meta-analyses suggest that theory-based PA interventions [13, 15, 16] implementing motivational strategies may have positive treatment effects on PA behavior and outcomes associated with motivation [11, 27‐29]. However, none of these studies evaluated PA intervention effects on the different types of motivation, which are assumed to determine the direction of PA behavior [18, 30]. Therefore, the main objective of this systematic review is to analyze the effects of school-based PA interventions on a variety of motivational outcomes towards PA in school-aged children and adolescents.

This systematic review protocol was registered in the PROSPERO international prospective register of systematic reviews (registration number CRD42018110306) and prepared in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 statement [31] (Additional file 1). The final review will be reported using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) statement as guidance [32]. Relevant changes of the protocol will be documented and published within the results of the final review.

This protocol presents justification for, and planned methods of, a systematic review to examine the effectiveness of school-based PA interventions on a variety of motivational outcomes towards PA. We will consider the strengths and limitations of the identified evidence as well as those of our review, and we will discuss the findings in the context of other relevant reviews. Potential limitations of this review could include the restriction to a narrative data synthesis, which could result in an overestimation of intervention effects, as well as the restriction to English language. In case changes to the protocol will be made, these will be described in the full systematic review.

Nonetheless, this systematic review can provide information as to which strategies are effective in increasing students’ motivation towards PA and hence increase their PA levels in class (e.g., PE) and out of class (leisure time). The findings of this review should help researchers and practitioners, operating in health promotion and health education, to develop and implement interventions that effectively promote PA behavior based on increased motivation.

For this purpose, the findings of this review will be disseminated to academic and non-academic audiences through peer-reviewed publications, conferences, and formal presentations and in formal meetings.