A School-Based Multilevel Intervention to Increase Physical Activity of Adolescents in Pakistan: From a Social-Ecological Perspective

Abstract

This study aimed to develop an intervention strategy based on the social-ecological model’s individual, interpersonal, and organizational levels for increasing adolescents’ physical activity in Pakistan. Based on the social-ecological model, an 8-week intervention was conducted for 618 school students in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. A quantitative method with a quasi-experimental design was adopted, administering self-report measures before and after the intervention. Intervention materials were delivered by leaflet once a week to the intervention group. Repeated measure analysis of variance was applied to verify the intervention effects at pre-and post-test conditions. The results show that a significant intervention effect was identified from the repeated measure analysis of variance for the intervention group’s physical activity participation compared to the control group from baseline (M = 12.01, SD = 0.136) to the 8-week post-test (M = 16.30, SD = 0.125). The intervention based on the social-ecological model has sufficiently and effectively improved physical activity among school adolescents in Pakistan.