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Brinkley et al_2017_what are the facilitators and obstacles for workplace team sports.pdf (406.06 kB)

What are the facilitators and obstacles to participation in workplace team sport? A qualitative study

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posted on 2017-03-17, 13:29 authored by Andrew J. Brinkley, Josie Freeman, Hilary McDermottHilary McDermott, Fehmidah MunirFehmidah Munir
Working age adults are failing to meet physical activity recommendations. Inactive behaviours are increasing costs for diminished individual and organisational health. The workplace is a priority setting to promote physical activity, however there is a lack of evidence about why some employees choose to participate in novel workplace activities, such as team sport, whilst others do not. The aim of this study was to explore the complexity of facilitators and obstacles associated with participation in workplace team sport. Twenty-nine semi-structured face-to-face and telephone interviews were conducted with office workers (58% female) (36 ± 7.71) from manufacturing, public services, and educational services. Data was analysed through template analysis. Five sub-level (i.e., intrapersonal, interpersonal, organisational, community and societal influences) facilitate participation or create obstacles for participants. Participants were challenged by a lack of competence, self-efficacy, negative sporting ideals and amotivation. Unhealthy competition, an unstable work-life balance and unsupportive colleagues created obstacles to participation. An unsupportive organisation and workplace culture placed demands on workplace champions, funding, facilities and communication. Healthy competitions, high perceptions of competence and self-efficacy, and being motivated autonomously enabled participation. Further, relatedness and social support created a physical activity culture where flexible working was encouraged and team sport was promoted in accessible locations within the organisation. Researchers should consider accounting for complexity of these influences. A participatory approach may tailor interventions to individual organisations and the employees that work within them. Interventions whereby autonomy, competence and relatedness are supported are recommended. This may be achieved by adapting sports and training workplace champions.

History

School

  • Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences

Published in

AIMS Public Health

Volume

4

Issue

1

Pages

94 - 126 (32)

Citation

BRINKLEY, A. ...et al., 2017. What are the facilitators and obstacles to participation in workplace team sport? A qualitative study. AIMS Public Health, 4(1), pp. 94-126.

Publisher

© The Authors. Published by AIMS Publications

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/

Acceptance date

2017-02-17

Publication date

2017-02-23

Notes

This is an Open Access Article. It is published by AIMS Publications under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

eISSN

2327-8994

Language

  • en

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