{
  "abstract": "Background The increasing prevalence of poor mental health amongst young people is a public health concern, and physical activity (PA) is one potential intervention that has both physical and mental health benefits. While education settings are important contexts for intervention delivery, little is known about PA interventions to support mental health in Further Education (FE) Colleges. This qualitative study aimed to explore the perspectives of college staff regarding the role of PA to support student mental health.Methods 29 college staff from 5 colleges in the South-West of England took part in semi-structured interviews. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and anonymised, and then analysed using thematic analysis according to the Framework Approach aided by NVivo14 software.Results Participants reported a concern around the growing prevalence of poor mental health amongst FE students. Several challenges to using PA to support student mental health across individual, college and systemic levels, were identified, including: a cultural sense of ‘no real place for physical activity in FE’, a lack of connection and integration between physical activity and mental health, negative attitudes towards physical activity and practical challenges like funding, infrastructure and a lack of time. Participants discussed several opportunities to address these challenges, such as increased variety of PA options, systemic changes to policy and funding structures, timetabling of PA, better protection of enrichment hours and a more joined-up approach between PA departments and college wellbeing services.Conclusion These findings illustrate that for physical activity to be implemented as a mental health intervention in colleges, cultural, policy and systemic shifts are needed. Future research should explore and evaluate ways to implement these changes to effectively integrate physical activity into further education to support student mental health.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Centre for Public Health, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Andy Mahon"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Centre for Public Health, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Ciara Thomas"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Centre for Public Health, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Russell Jago"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Centre for Public Health, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Judi Kidger"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Centre for Public Health, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Laura Tinner"
    }
  ],
  "title": "P11-7 Challenges and opportunities for using physical activity to support the mental health of English college students: a qualitative study with college staff",
  "uid": "c24bc469-6591-53bb-b7c2-961f160a000d"
}