Abstract:
ABSTRACT
Sports is important for lifelong health ,however participation have been observed to be lower in
rural compared with the urban settings and it declines rapidly during adolescent stage. This
quantitative study examined adolescents in secondary schools in Kilosa District in regards to the
factors affecting their sports participation. Five schools were selected; Mbumi, Dendego,
Kutukutu, Mazinyungu and Kimamba secondary schools.
Methods: A cross sectional survey was done involving 525 students. Questionnaire was used to
gather information on demographic characteristics, individual factors, peer factors and school
environment factors affecting their participation. The data was analyzed with the Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.Descriptive statistics were used to summarize
demographic characteristics. Univariate and Multivariate regression analysis was used to analyse
factors associated with participation in physical activities. Odds ratios and 95% confidence
intervals were computed.
Results:
The age of the study participants ranged from 12 to 19 years with a mean of 15.5 (SD = 1.49)
years. Students aged 12-15 years had lower odds of participating in sports compared to those in
age group 16-19 years(OR =0.47,95 CI(0.32-0.68),P<0.001) thus active participation increased
significantly with age. The findings also revealed that students with sports partner had a higher
chance of being physically active compared to students who had no sports partners. Findings also
revealed that majority (61.2%) of the students were not taught physical education subject and
even the schools that were teaching this subject were only taught once per week. The results also
showed that 4/5 schools under study had no sports facilities hence increasing the likelihood of
limited participation in sports activities. Factors that were significantly associated with
participation in sports were older age 16-19 by 60.4%, town residency by 74.4%, social
acceptance by 81.3% and sports partner by 79.7%.
Conclusion and Recommendation: Knowledge on the importance of physical activities is
limited and access to sports and physical activity facilities is still unsatisfactory. There is a need
to address individual, peer and environment influences to student’s participation in physical
activities in order to address public health problems caused by sedentary behaviors. The
government and other stakeholders need to come up with effective interventions to address this
public health issue in secondary schools
