Physical Literacy of 16-18-Years Adolescents: A Qualitative Study

Physical literacy is required for achieving a healthy and active lifestyle among adolescents. Additionally, an improvement in physical literacy affects the prevention of the diseases caused by the lack of physical activity such as obesity and diabetes positively. So far, no comprehensive program has been developed and operated for enhancing adolescents' physical literacy although policymakers and stakeholders currently advocate physical literacy programs and interventions. The present study aimed to identify the dimensions and concept of the physical literacy of 16-18-year-old adolescents. The participants were selected purposefully with the maximum diversity among specialists in the health education and health promotion, and physical education specialists, as well as 16-18-year-old male and female adolescents until reaching information saturation. Further, semi-structured interviews were performed face-to-face with 26 participants. Data were analyzed based on the content analysis of Graneheim and Lundman. The results suggested four themes of self-care and information acquisition, comprehension, and assessment skills for adolescents' physical literacy and the participants mostly emphasized self-care skill. Based on the themes emerged in the qualitative study, the physical literacy of adolescents can be defined as a set of the skills for information acquisition, comprehension, assessment, and self-care to make the right decisions to maintain and improve physical activities. The study findings can be applied as a basis for educational interventions to strengthen adolescents' physical literacy.