
Brendan T. O'KeeffeUniversity of Limerick | UL · Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences
Brendan T. O'Keeffe
Doctor of Philosophy
About
32
Publications
20,248
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Introduction
Associate Professor of Physical Education in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Limerick. Research Interests: 1) Health related physical fitness in youth 2) Application of physical fitness models/concepts in Physical Education/School Settings 3) Validity and reliability of field based testing. NSCA Certified S&C Coach.
Additional affiliations
September 2016 - August 2020
Publications
Publications (32)
Purpose : This study evaluated the objectivity, test/retest reliability, and validity of the Basketball Throw Test (BTT) test administered in the school setting by physical education teachers for assessing the upper-body muscular strength in adolescents and its relationship with body mass index. Method : Four hundred and seventy Algerian adolescent...
Background
The aim of this study was to examine the test-retest reliability of the physical activity behavior, health and wellbeing questionnaire, in adolescent populations, administered by teachers in school settings, in the Republic of Ireland.
Methods
A cross-sectional, mixed sample of 55 participants (45.5% males: Age, 13.94 (±.40) years) were...
Background
Teachers are recognized as ‘key agents’ for the delivery of physical activity programs and policies in schools. The aim of our study was to develop and evaluate a tool to assess teachers’ capability, opportunity, and motivation to deliver school-based physical activity interventions.
Methods
The development and evaluation of the Capabil...
Background The aim of this study was to examine the test-retest reliability of the physical activity behavior, health and wellbeing questionnaire, in adolescent populations, administered by teachers in school settings, in the Republic of Ireland. Methods A cross-sectional, mixed sample of 55 participants (45.5% males: Age, 13.94 (±.40) years) were...
The aim of the current study was to examine risk and protective factors related to bullying in sport. Adopting the methodologi-cal approach outlined by Arksey and O'Malley (International Journal of Social Research Methodology 8(1):19-32, 2005), 37 articles met the inclusion criteria. A consistent definition of bullying could not be identified in th...
Typical school provision of physical education, physical activity and sports may impact adolescent physical health. However, systematic literature reviews and meta-analysis have not yet considered this impact. The Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, PsychINFO, ERIC and MEDLINE databases were searched for relevant literature (2000–2023) pertaining to adole...
Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of different levels of typical school provision of physical education, physical activity and sports on the physical activity behaviors, health and wellbeing of Irish adolescents (13–14 years). Methods: A cross-sectional sample (n = 795) of adolescents (age: 14.28 ± 0.45), enrolled at sc...
Background: The aim of this study was to examine the test-retest reliability of the physical activity behavior, health and wellbeing questionnaire, in adolescent populations, administered by teachers in school settings, in the Republic of Ireland.
Methods : A cross-sectional, mixed sample of 55 participants (45.5% males: Age, 13.94 (±.40) were incl...
Purpose
Given the many policies and interventions aimed at increasing physical activity (PA), it is important to understand how levels of PA, sport participation and active travel change over time. The purpose of this study is to assess the participation levels of children and adolescents in sport, PA and active travel in Northern Ireland (NI) and...
International guidelines recommend sixty-minutes of moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity (PA) daily for adolescents (WHO, 2020). Prevalence of physical inactivity is high and is regarded as a leading risk factor for death worldwide, contributing to the onset of non-communicable diseases with just 20% of adolescents meeting the recommend...
This summary report provides an overview of the key findings from the 2022 Children's Sports Participation and Physical Activity Study (CSPPA).
This was an All-Island study with 8,881 children aged 10-19 years old from the Republic of Ireland (6,358) and Northern Ireland (2,523) participating in the research programme. In total there were 1,758 pr...
Typical school provision of physical education, physical activity and sports, which is reflective of the school’s response to the national curriculum, available resources and school ethos, may impact adolescent mental health and wellbeing. Systematic literature reviews have not yet considered this impact. The Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, PsychINFO,...
Evaluating the extent of implementation and variation of typical school provision of physical education, physical activity and sports in the Republic of Ireland is a public health priority. Therefore, a national audit into the different levels of typical school provision of physical education, physical activity and sports was conducted. To date, th...
Objective
Physical education, physical activity and sports provision are important factors in whole school health promotion, however, a standardised evaluation framework to evaluate the contribution of these components is lacking. A framework that accounts for the distinct structures and associated factors, that impact upon provision would facilita...
Objectives: (1) To develop reference values for health-related fitness in European children and adolescents aged 6–18 years that are the foundation for the web based, open-access and multi-language fitness platform (FitBack); (2) To provide comparisons across European countries.
Methods: This study builds on a previous large fitness reference stud...
Typical school provision of physical education, physical activity and sports, which reflects the response to national curriculum, resource base and ethos of schools, may impact adolescent physical activity behaviors. This impact has not been considered in systematic literature reviews to date. The Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, PsychINFO, ERIC and ME...
Background
Regular engagement in physical activity (PA) is cited as a powerful predicter of future health among adolescents. International guidelines recommend sixty-minutes of moderate-to-vigorous-intensity PA daily for adolescents. Prevalence of physical inactivity is high among adolescents and is regarded as a leading risk factor for death world...
Objectives
(1) To develop reference values for health-related fitness European children and adolescents aged 6–18 years that are the foundation for the web-based, open-access and multi-language fitness platform (FitBack); (2) To provide comparisons across European countries.
Methods
This study builds on a previous large fitness reference study in...
Aim: To examine the feasibility of a fitness test battery and web-based platform for monitoring key indicators of adolescent health in school settings. Methods: A process evaluation framework for feasibility studies, developed by Orsmond and Cohn (2015), was used to conduct a systematic evaluation of a student centred approach to measure and monito...
Background and aims
Examining factors that may explain disparities in fitness levels among youth is a critical step in youth fitness promotion. The purpose of this study was twofold; 1) to examine the influence of school-level characteristics on fitness test performance; 2) to compare Irish adolescents’ physical fitness to European norms.
Methods...
The aim of this study was to examine secondary school students’ attitudes towards and experiences of a student-centred health-related fitness test battery. A total of 795 adolescents (403 boys, 50.7%; 392 girls, 49.3%) aged 13.2 years (±0.39) from 20 secondary schools in the Republic of Ireland participated in the study. Schools were stratified for...
Health related physical fitness (HRPF) in childhood and adolescence is a powerful marker of future health (1). Despite WHO recommendations (2), the Republic of Ireland lacks a clearly specified national strategy for testing and monitoring physical fitness in children and adolescents. The aim of the present investigation was to assess health-related...
Purpose:
To examine the test-retest reliability of student-administered (SA) health-related fitness tests in school settings and to compare indices of reliability with those taken by trained research-assistants.
Methods:
Participants (n = 86; age: 13.43 [0.33] y) were divided into 2 groups, SA (n = 45, girls = 26) or research-assistant administe...
Purpose: To examine the prevalence of and approaches to monitoring health-related physical fitness (HRPF) in secondary
school-based physical education programs. Methods: Physical education teachers (N = 327; 56.6% females) from 235 secondary
schools (33.1% of national total) in the Republic of Ireland completed a survey designed specifically for th...
Health related physical fitness (HRPF) in childhood and adolescence is a powerful marker of future health (1). Despite WHO recommendations (2), the Republic of Ireland (RoI) lacks a clearly specified national strategy for testing and monitoring physical fitness in children and adolescents. The aim of the present investigation was to assess health-r...
Despite the prominence of health related physical fitness (HRPF) testing in post-primary schools, little is known about students attitudes towards the perceived usefulness of these tests (Cale, Harris, & Chen, 2014; Mercier & Silverman, 2014). The purpose of this investigation was to examine post-primary students’ attitudes towards and experiences...
Health related physical fitness (HRPF) in childhood and adolescence is a powerful marker of future health (1). Despite WHO recommendations (2), the Republic of Ireland (RoI) lacks a clearly specified national strategy for testing and monitoring physical fitness in children and adolescents. The need for efficient, user friendly and low cost instrume...
Introduction: Despite WHO recommendations (1), and unlike the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and several European countries (2), Ireland lacks a clearly specified strategy for testing and monitoring physical fitness in children and adolescents. The aim of this study was twofold. Firstly, to review physical health and fitness monitoring practice...