Physical activity capability, opportunity, motivation and behavior in youth settings: theoretical framework to guide physical activity leader interventions

Despite clear evidence of the potential benefits gained by being physically active, children and adolescents (collectively youth) often fail to achieve the recommended daily 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Focusing on youth physical activity in context provides the starting point for intervention design, but the design and implementation of effective interventions that leverage behavioral theory, evidence, and knowledge about settings remains a formidable challenge. This conceptual review aims to address critically relevant concepts, principles, and evidence from the literature to guide intervention design and implementation that target physical activity leader behavior toward reducing the problem of insufficient youth MVPA. The need to distinguish between the goals to increase MVPA within a setting and to increase youth overall/daily MVPA is emphasized. This review addresses the theoretical and practical considerations of interventions in settings where youth spend time each day. Included is an investigation of what gaps exist in current approaches to intervene through physical activity leaders in settings. Informed both by theory and extant evidence, potential solutions are discussed, including the synthesis of a novel theoretical framework to guide settings-based physical activity leader behavior interventions that address capabilities, opportunities, and motivations for physical activity behaviors across multiple setting levels.