The impact of outdoor physical activity on adolescent wellbeing

: Developing and validating a new measure of children’s wellbeing

Abstract

Understanding adolescents’ interpretation of the construct wellbeing is vital and an under-researched area (Dunlop-Bennett et al., 2019) particularly because adolescent wellbeing has been cited as ‘elusive’ (Bharara, Duncan, Jarden & Hinckson, 2019) and ‘ill-defined’ (Bourke & Geldens, 2007). Without understanding and defining adolescent wellbeing, it cannot be accurately measured or improved. The support and improvement of adolescent wellbeing is needed now more than ever due to the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbating wellbeing and inequalities among young people (Chzhen, 2020). Physical activity and time spent in nature have been linked to positive psychological health benefits (Selhub & Logan, 2012; Donnelly & Macintyre, 2020). The Andrew Simpson Foundation is a not-for-profit charity which utilises both physical activity and nature by offering subsidised water sports programmes to all. This thesis developed a new definition and measure of adolescent wellbeing so the impact the Andrew Simpson Foundation has on children’s lives could be understood. This has real-world impact as the charity has use the evidence documented in this thesis to support the application for further funding to support their work. A person-centred approach was adopted for this thesis (Yardley et al., 2015a) whereby children were included at all relevant stages of the research. The scale development process followed guidelines produced by MacKenzie and colleagues (2011) and both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies were used throughout the thesis to provide a balanced perspective on wellbeing as it is a broad and complex construct (Bryman, 2006; McKim, 2017). This thesis was successful in the development of both a definition and measure of wellbeing and was able to highlight the importance of the Andrew Simpson Foundation in children’s lives while returning back to normal after the national lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Date of Award	24 Mar 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Winchester
Supervisor	Hazel J Brown (Supervisor), Denise Hewlett (Supervisor) & John Batten (Supervisor)