João Martins

University of Lisbon | UL

This article examined qualitative studies of adolescents’ perspectives about the facilitators and barriers of physical activity, published from 2007 to 2014. A systematic review of ‘Web of Science’, ‘EBSCO’, ‘Psychinfo’ and ‘ERIC’ databases was performed according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines. The...

School and physical education (PE) play an important role in promoting youth physical activity (PA). Although there is extensive evidence about the correlates of PA in youth, few studies summarize these findings and critically connect them to PE based on a socio-ecological approach. The purpose of this article was to perform a narrative review of s...

Background: To examine the trends of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) from 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014 in a representative sample of Portuguese adolescent girls and to investigate MVPA changes during adolescence in surveys of each year and by generation. Methods: A nationally representative sample of 6018 girls between 11...

Purpose: Understanding friends influences on adolescents’ PA, and how these change over time, is fundamental to developing interventions for promoting active lifestyles yet the latter in particular remains unexplored. This study explored the experiences and perspectives of physically active and inactive adolescents regarding the influence of their...

Listening to adolescents' voices has been important to promote meaningful physical activity (PA) opportunities. Therefore, an updated systematic review of the available qualitative literature on adolescents' perspectives on the barriers and facilitators of PA was conducted, according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Anal...

(1) Background: In accordance with the socio-ecological model of physical education (PE), school-based interventions to promote physical activity (PA) will only be successful if a change occurs in the perceptions and attitudes of all. This study sought to analyze non-PE teachers experiences in PE and how these experiences relate to the value they a...

Video (15 Minutes) explaining the most important findings of the Study "Physical literacy in Europe: The current state of implementation in research, practice, and policy" in the Journal of Exercise and Fitness, as part of the Special Issue "Cultural Perspectives on Physical Literacy"

Video (5 Minutes) explaining the most important findings of the Study "Physical literacy in Europe: The current state of implementation in research, practice, and policy" in the Journal of Exercise and Fitness, as part of the Special Issue "Cultural Perspectives on Physical Literacy"

Background/objective The holistic concept of physical literacy (PL) embraces different person-centered qualities (physical, cognitive, affective/psychological) necessary to lead physically active lifestyles. PL has recently gained increasing attention globally and Europe is no exception. However, scientific endeavors summarizing the current state o...

Introduction: Aims of these studies were to develop the Portuguese Physical Literacy Assessment Observation instrument (PPLA-O) to assess the physical and part of the cognitive domain of Physical Literacy (PL) through data collected routinely by Physical Education (PE) teachers; and to assess the construct validity (dimensionality, measurement inva...

Background: We aim to systematically review the literature on measurement properties of self- and proxy-reported questionnaires measuring 24-hour movement behaviors in children and adolescents. Methods: PubMed, PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, and EMBASE were searched until June 2021. Studies were included if the sample size for validity studies had 50 pa...

Objective: This study aimed to systematically review and analyse intervention programs in a school context centred on the family, focused on increasing youths' physical activity. Data source: The research was carried out in the PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases. Study inclusion criteria: Studies were included if participants were chi...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, adolescents’ routines were deeply affected, which negatively impacted their level of PA. Knowing the barriers to PA in adolescence is relevant, because the perception of more barriers is one of the most consistent negative correlates of PA participation. The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare the barriers...

Introduction: school is a privileged context for the citizens’ equal educational opportunities. Due to the geography, culture, economic and social value of the natural aquatic resources to Portugal, teaching the Portuguese population to interact safely and competently with the aquatic environments is essential [1,2]. This interaction through the pr...

Introduction: physical literacy (PL) can be described as the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding to value and take responsibility for engaging in physical activities (PA) for life [1,2]. PL is the holistic learning that occurs through movement and physical activity and integrates physical, psychological, social...

Physical inactivity is a worldwide public challenge and a leading risk factor for overweight and obesity. Despite the well-recognized benefits of physical activity (PA), only 29% of European youth meet recommended guidelines of at least 60 minutes of daily moderate-to-vigorous PA. The school setting provides an ideal environment to promote healthy...

Purpose. This study aimed to investigate the associations between muscular strength tests and vertical jumping performance (countermovement jump [CMJ] and squat jump [SJ]) in adolescent male football players, while controlling for important predictors such as chronological age and body composition. Methods. The sample involved 161 male footballers...

Physical activity (PA) is beneficial for health. FITOLD* it is an European project, funded by Erasmus+ Sport, which focuses on the characterization and promotion of PA, modes of mobility and health in people aged 65 years and older. In Portugal, the project is being implemented in Grândola. At an early stage it is important to evaluate, during a pa...

The promotion of active and autonomous aging implies the adoption of innovative strategies to encourage active mobility in the elderly. One of the strategies is the use of active and sustainable means of transport and mobility. This mobility is directly associated with improvements in the health of the elderly. The adoption of active transport allo...

This study aimed to assess the trends of health-related cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) during two school years with a 3-month summer break in children and adolescents. A 2-year longitudinal study, including 440 6th to 8th graders (218 boys), mean age 12.3 years, was conducted. The Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) was used t...

Background: Aims of these studies were to develop the PPLA-Observation instrument (PPLA-O) to assess the physical and part of cognitive domain of Physical Literacy through data collected routinely by Physical Education (PE) teachers; and assess the construct validity (dimensionality, measurement invariance, and convergent and discriminant validity)...

Background: Aims of this study were to assess construct validity (dimensionality and measurement invariance) and reliability of the previously developed Cognitive module of the Portuguese Physical Literacy Assessment – Questionnaire (PPLA-Q). Secondary aims were to assess whether using distractor information was useful for higher precision, and whe...

Background: Aims of this study were to assess construct validity (dimensionality, measurement invariance, convergent and discriminant validity) and reliability of the previously developed Psychological and Social modules of the Portuguese Physical Literacy Assessment – Questionnaire (PPLA-Q). Methods: Mokken Scale Analysis was used in a final samp...

Background Aims of this study were to assess construct validity (dimensionality, measurement invariance, convergent and discriminant validity) and reliability of the previously developed Psychological and Social modules of the Portuguese Physical Literacy Assessment – Questionnaire (PPLA-Q). Methods Mokken Scale Analysis was used in a final sample...

This study aimed to investigate parents' estimation of their preschool children's leisure-time physical activity (PA) and the correlation between parents' reported participation in PA with their children in leisure time and their children's PA levels. A total of 244 Norwegian preschool children aged 4-6 and their parents were enrolled in the study....

his study aimed to examine the associations between lower-body explosive strength (squat jump—SJ, and countermovement jump—CMJ), speed (10- and 35-m linear sprints), and agility (t-test) capacities, after controlling for crucial predictors such as chronological age (CA) and body composition. The sample was composed of 164 adolescent male football p...

Active commuting to and from school can be an important contribution to improving health in adolescents. This study aimed to analyze the influence of multilevel variables of the ecological model in the active commuting of a representative sample of Portuguese adolescents. The 2018 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children questionnaire was applied t...

This study aimed to translate and adapt the psychometric properties of the Behavioural Regulation in Active Commuting to School (BR-ACS) questionnaire to young Portuguese students. This study had two stages: (1) translation and adaptation of the questionnaire; (2) evaluation of the psychometric properties. A sample of 338 participants (212 female,...

The present study sought to examine the associations between participation in physical education (PE) classes and a range of health-related behaviours among adolescents. Secondary analysis of self-reported data from the Global Student Health Survey, collected between 2010 and 2017 from 222,121 adolescents (N = 117,914 girls; 49.0%; aged 13–17 years...

Problem statement: The assessment of players' physical attributes such as explosive power has been relevant for players' selection and talent identification in youth football. Among individual features, the literature describes a high positive correlation between explosive leg power (countermovement-CMJ, and squat jump-SJ) and superior levels of sp...

Background The Portuguese Physical Literacy Assessment (PPLA) is a novel tool to assess high-school students’ (grade 10–12; 15–18 years) Physical Literacy (PL) in Physical Education (PE); inspired by the four domains of the Australian Physical Literacy Framework (APLF), and the Portuguese PE syllabus. This paper describes the development, content v...

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted adolescents' lives, leading to unprecedented changes in their routines, especially in education. Face-to-face physical education (PE) classes during COVID-19 were affected in organization, possibly conditioning students' participation, motivation and learning. Based on the achievement goal and self-determination theor...

Purpose. The aim of this presentation is to present consequences of Self-Transcendence (ST) goal adoption in Physical Activity (PA) across Greece, Malaysia and Portugal. It was hypothesized that across these cultures, when all three main achievement goals [Self-Enhancement (SE); Self-Improvement (SI); ST] are assessed, ST goals account for unique v...

This symposium focuses on cross-cultural research on the recently introduced Self-Transcendence (ST) goals construct alongside the widely investigated constructs of Self-Improvement (SI) and Self- Enhancement (SE) goals. In the introduction of this symposium, the importance of adopting selfless achievement goals, i.e., ST goals, as well as the conc...

Grip strength (GS) is an indicator of health and vulnerability and inversely associated with depressive symptoms. The aim of this study was to explore GS discrimination capacity for depression; and possible GS cut-off values for depression by sex and age group. Data from 2011 and 2015 on 20,598 (10,416 women) middle-aged and older adults from 14 Eu...

This study aimed to systematically review the association between telomere length (TL) and muscular fitness. In October 2020, an articles search was applied to PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Eligibility criteria included: cross-sectional, prospective, and experimental study design; outcomes included TL; results expressed the relationship betwe...

Resumo. Este estudo analisou a oferta de uma escola internacional com o currículo International Baccalaureate (IB) para que os alunos, de ambos os sexos, possam cumprir as recomendações de atividade física (AF) da Organização Mundial de Saúde (OMS). Participaram 236 alunos (118 rapazes e 118 raparigas) com idades compreendidas dos 10 aos 17 anos, a...

Physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviours (SB) influence health. Since most people engage in different combinations of both behaviours every day, understanding the socio-demographic characteristics of adults with distinct PA and sitting time (ST) patterns is important to contribute to evidence-based planning of public health strategies. Data...

Physical fitness (PF) is a multi-component construct and a biomarker of health. Worse PF is related to vulnerability and predicts worse academic achievements. Thus, assessing PF is important to monitor health in youth. This systematic review aimed to identify and inform physical education, health professionals and entities about existing PF batteri...

This study’s objective was to analyse the associations between physical activity (PA) and well-being in a representative sample of European university students. This cross-sectional study was based on data from the European Social Survey round 6, 2012, comprising 3,143 European university students (1456 men and 1687 women) from 27 countries, with a...

Resumo. Este estudo analisou e comparou os estímulos físicos, sociais e políticos do ambiente escolar para atividade física (AF) e a prática de AF dos adolescentes de ambos os sexos em duas escolas secundárias com programas de educação física (EF) distintos. Participaram quatro gestores e 624 adolescentes (326 rapazes), com idades entre 14 e 17 ano...

Objective: There are few studies evaluating the relationship between depression symptoms (DS) and physical activity (PA) considering peoples’ sociodemographic characteristics. This study aimed to analyse the relationship between DS and PA, stratified by sociodemographic characteristics of European adults. Methods: Participants were 29285 adults (13...

Background: Preventing childhood obesity is a public health challenge of the twenty-first century and it must be a priority. Governments play a major role in creating and supporting a healthy school environment and should prioritise actions to improve children's health. Sintra Grows Healthy aims to promote healthy lifestyles to prevent childhood ob...

Objective: To analyze the relationship between grip strength and symptoms of depression, considering sex and age, in adults from 18 countries. Methods: Cross-sectional data for adults 50 years and older from the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe wave 6 (collected in 2015) were analyzed. Grip strength was measured twice on each ha...

The present study, using a sample of Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) representatives from five Higher Education European institutions (England, Finland, Greece, Ireland, and Portugal) sought to investigate the proposed measures of change required for programme delivery during the academic year of 2020-21. Each team completed a SWOT (str...

The aim was to systematically review the relationship between muscular strength (MS) and depression symptoms (DS) among adults, and conduct a meta-analysis to determine the pooled odds ratio (OR) for the relationship between MS and DS. The strategies employed in this systematic review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews an...

Given the need for comparative research on the participation of adolescents in physical education (PE) classes as a privileged space for physical activity (PA) promotion, this study sought to estimate, analyse and compare the prevalence of participation in PE classes among adolescents from 54 countries and to examine sex, age, country income and wo...

Comparable and cross-national research is needed to examine students’ views on the role of physical education (PE) in promoting active and healthy lifestyles, particularly in non-English speaking contexts. Thus, the present study aims to investigate and compare the views of middle school students from four European countries towards PE, considering...

Purpose. To systematically review and organise the available literature devoted to the topic of genetics and performance in football. Methods. A systematic search was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines in Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, and PubMed for original research published before October 2019. The following keywords were entered:...

Comparable and cross-national research is needed to examine students' views on the role of physical education (PE) in promoting active and healthy lifestyles, particularly in non-English speaking contexts. Thus, the present study aims to investigate and compare the views of middle school students from four European countries towards PE, considering...

This study analyzed the relationships hypothesized by the Theory of Achievement Objectives in physical education classes and school satisfaction in the prediction of attitudes (the taste for physical activity and self-efficacy) and the level of physical activity of adolescents from two secondary schools. 624 adolescents (326 boys) participated, age...

This paper addresses the inadequate understanding of the concept of physical literacy (PL), often originating from complex terminology and philosophical language used in the current literature, that discourages non-native English-speaking professionals from engaging deeper into the subject. Specifically, this scoping review seeks to identify intern...

Introduction: Physical activity (PA) is a beneficial health behaviour, however most adolescents worldwide are physically inactive. Updated information on the prevalence and trends of PA is important to inform national and international authorities and support countries' public health policies and actions. This study aimed to present the worldwide,...

This study aimed to systematically review the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and telomere length (TL). Studies were identified from searches in Cochrane Central, PubMed, Scopus, Sportdiscus, and Web of Science databases through July 2019. Eligibility criteria included: cross-sectional, prospective, and experimental study design; outc...

There appears to be a lack of existing data that comprehensively summarizes the evidence of children and adolescents' active travel in the Republic of Ireland. In lieu of this, a scoping review was conducted to map the existing literature (2000-2020) on children and adolescents' active travel in the Republic of Ireland. A scoping review design extr...

O objetivo do estudo foi caracterizar as aulas de educação física (EF) em duas escolas secundárias com metodologias de trabalho distintas. Foram avaliadas 37 aulas de EF através do System for Observing Instruction Time e calculadas as proporções médias do tempo de aula de cada comportamento do professor, do aluno, das situações do contexto da aula...

Purpose. To systematically review and organise the available literature devoted to the topic of genetics and performance in football. Methods. A systematic search was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines in Web Articles were screened by using pre-defined selection criteria, and methodological quality was assessed independently by 2 au...

En este artículo se presenta un estudio comparado de la Educación Física en lo relativo a la legislación, su estructura, el currículo, las escuelas y el profesorado, todo ello en países dentro del marco que compone la Red Euroamericana de Actividad Física, Educación y Salud (REAFES), con la característica de ser todos iberoamericanos y no anglófono...

Introdução O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar os dados preliminares sobre a perceção dos alunos relativamente à flexibilização curricular na disciplina de educação física, obtidos na aplicação piloto do EuPEO Pupils Questionaire (EPQ). O EPQ faz parte do Toolkit Monitorização Interna (TIM), desenvolvido no campo de ação do projeto European Phy...

Introdução : O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar os dados preliminares sobre a perceção dos alunos relativamente à flexibilização curricular na disciplina de educação física, obtidos na aplicação piloto do EuPEO Pupils Questionaire (EPQ). O EPQ faz parte do Toolkit Monitorização Interna (TIM), desenvolvido no campo de ação do projeto European Ph...

A Educação Física tem sido destacada como a única disciplina curricular cujo foco combina o corpo e a competência física com a aprendizagem e comunicação baseadas em valores, constituindo-se como uma via de aprendizagem e desenvolvimento de competências necessárias para o sucesso no século XXI. São exemplos de competências desenvolvidas por via de...

Atualmente, pela Europa, verificam-se avanços significativos no desenvolvimento da Educação Física (EF) desde o seu enquadramento curricular, passando pelos objetivos inscritos nos currículos e respetivas estratégias de avaliação, até às condições das escolas para desenvolvimento do currículo. Ao mesmo tempo, não existe um sistema validado de monit...