ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Physical Education and Pedagogy
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1533723
This article is part of the Research TopicSchools as an arena for health-promoting physical activityView all 22 articles
Health-Related Quality of Life Findings from the Faroe Islands FIT FIRST FOR ALL School-Based Physical Activity Study
Provisionally accepted
Helgi Winther Olsen1*
Bára Berghamar Danielsen1
Tórur Sjúrðarson2
Søren Antoft1
Malte Nejst Larsen3
Magni Mohr2
Annika Helgadóttir Davidsen2
May-Britt Skoradal2- 1Child Study Center, Faculty of Education, University of the Faroe Islands, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands
- 2Center of Health Science, Faculty of Health, University of the Faroe Islands, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands
- 3Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
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Introduction: This study evaluated the FIT FIRST FOR ALL program's effects on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among Faroese schoolchildren aged 7–16 years during a 10-week school-wide intervention.Methods: A non-randomized controlled design included 360 pupils from an intervention (INT, n=179) and a control school (CON, n=181). The INT group participated in three weekly 40-minute physical activity sessions over 10 weeks. HRQOL was assessed using KIDSCREEN-52, and changes were analyzed using linear mixed-effects models.Results: A significant Time × Group interaction (P = 0.002) showed a 7% improvement in INT pupils' physical well-being, particularly among boys (8% increase, P < 0.001) and the youngest age group (7% increase, P= 0.006). No significant changes were observed in other HRQOL dimensions.Discussion: The FIT FIRST FOR ALL program improved physical well-being, particularly among boys and younger age groups, showcasing its potential to influence selected dimensions of HRQOL through structured school-based physical activity. These findings suggest that tailoring the program to specific age and gender groups could further strengthen its scalability and effectiveness across diverse school settings.
Keywords: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL), Well-being, quality physical education, schoolbased physical activity, Children and adolescents, School-wide intervention, FIT FIRST
Received: 24 Nov 2024; Accepted: 09 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Olsen, Danielsen, Sjúrðarson, Antoft, Larsen, Mohr, Helgadóttir Davidsen and Skoradal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Helgi Winther Olsen, Child Study Center, Faculty of Education, University of the Faroe Islands, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands
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