Kids just wanna have fun: Children's experiences of a weight management programme

Objectives: To explore children's accounts of their experiences of the UK‘s largest childhood obesity programme, MEND (Mind, Exercise, Nutrition…Do it!) (See www.mendprogramme.org). Design: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with children who had completed the MEND obesity programme. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Method Fourteen children spanning diverse areas of London comprised this study (eight male, six female), aged between 11 and 14 years and in secondary school. Participants were interviewed a year after completing one of the London-based MEND obesity programmes. Results: This article focuses on the most common and striking theme to emerge from the original dataset (The complete analysis may be found in L. Watson, Unpublished doctoral thesis): Fun. Subthemes were: ‘going with the flow’; active participation in activities that led to new experiences (‘actually doing it’ – seeing the fun side); the importance of others in the experience of fun (‘you do games in unity’ – ‘it's not as fun on your own’). Conclusion: Children have fun when engaged in interactive and varied activities with opportunity for individual feedback and improvement. When designing childhood obesity programmes, conditions that optimise children's experience of fun should be emphasised over didactic and risk-heavy information pertaining to childhood obesity.

An Exploration of Clinical Psychologist and Educational Psychologist Constructs of Mental Health in the Context of Secondary School Aged Children

Over the past decade, Mental Health (MH) has increasingly appeared on the ‘school agenda’, both in terms of rising levels of MH difficulties in the student population, and also the expectation that schools have a role to play in supporting good MH. MH is a term fraught with ambiguities leading to uncertainty around the most appropriate ways to provide support. A review of current literature reveals a wide range of definitions and interpretations, sometimes within the same team of supporting professionals. The current study seeks to explore the perspectives held by two professional groups seemingly well placed to support young persons’ (YPs’) MH. Six Clinical Psychologists (CPs) and six Educational Psychologists (EPs) are interviewed, exploring their constructs of MH, and their perceptions of their own role and the roles of others in supporting secondary school aged YPs’ MH. The data are analysed through Thematic Analysis. Findings suggest that there are variations between the two professions’ constructs of MH, and EPs in particular have no unified concept of MH. This is likely due to less experience or training in this area. CPs and EPs hold similar perceptions of the school’s role for promoting good MH, and flagging up concerns to more specialist professionals when necessary. However, there are discrepancies in the EP and CP perceptions of each other’s roles. The conflicting views appear to emerge through incomplete information about the other, and professional defensiveness in a context where resources and funding are scarce. The current study suggests that these challenges can be addressed through: greater reflectivity on professional biases, exploration of MH constructs within other epistemological positions, and greater communication regarding professional roles, leading to clearer collaboration in supporting the MH of YP.

‘Racialised’ pedagogic practices influencing young Muslims' physical culture

Background: There is growing concern surrounding the ‘racialised’ body and the way young people develop dispositions towards physical activity (PA) and sports, and more broadly to physical culture. This paper draws on Bourdieu's social theory in an effort to explore the ways in which the intersectionality of various fields (family, religion and school) and their dimensions (culture and social class) influence young Muslims' physical culture. Purpose: More specifically the paper examines the ‘racialised’ pedagogic practices in various fields that influence young Muslims' dispositions to physical culture. Method: The study reports on the voices of 40 participants identifying as young Muslims (12–15 years old; 20 girls and 20 boys) from one secondary school in the South of England, UK. A case study approach was used to explore participants’ understanding, meaning, structural conditions and personal agency with regard to physical culture and ‘racialised’ body pedagogies. Data include semi-structured paired interviews with participants. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. More specifically, thematic analysis based on the notion of ‘fields' informed deductive and inductive procedures. Findings: Results suggested that religion had limited influence on the participants' agency when intersecting with schooling and social class with regard to embodiment of active physical culture. Economic capital, on the other hand, had a considerable influence on participants’ physical culture as it contributed to young people's access to PA opportunities, agency and body pedagogies. In addition, the study concludes that fields outside the school play a significant role in influencing and enabling young Muslims’ physical culture. Conclusions: One of the most significant implications of this study is emphasising that young Muslims should not be viewed as a homogenous group as various fields intersect to influence their participation in physical education and their embodiment of physical culture. Identified fields and their markers make dispositions unique, dependent upon characteristics and their relative influence.