The influence of physical education on the use of healthy lifestyle technologies: insights from young adults’ digital PE experiences and future recommendations

Background In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the integration of traditional digital media and/or healthy lifestyle technologies (HLT) into physical education/health and physical education (PE/HPE) to support teachers’ teaching and students’ learning. However, little attention has been paid to how digital PE experiences influence young people’s physical activity (PA) participation and health learning beyond formal education settings, in particular, in young adulthood when using HLT.Purpose This study aimed to explore how young adults’ (aged 18-20) digital PE experiences influenced their use of HLT beyond school settings, with respect to their health learning in everyday, real-world contexts. In addition, it sought to gather insights from young adults to inform and improve the integration of various digital technologies in PE in the future.Method A qualitative research design was employed, with data collected through 23 participants in eight focus groups and 11 in individual interviews. Abductive thematic analysis was used to identify key patterns in participants’ responses and constructivist learning theory was employed as a theoretical framework to guide data analysis.Findings The findings revealed that most participants had had limited digital PE experiences, most of which had occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those with digital PE experiences reported these to have had a positive influence on their digital health literacy and to have helped them to critically negotiate and navigate digital environments beyond the subject in early adulthood. Those with a lack of digital PE at school had independently developed digital techniques and health knowledge via HLT to address their health needs beyond PE. This finding highlights an interplay between formal and informal learning. The absence of sufficient health-related learning and/or inadequate opportunities for regular PA participation in PE, prompted participants to seek informal opportunities to acquire health knowledge and engage in PA. The participants felt that in the future PE should focus on developing young people’s digital health literacy from an early age. This would allow young people to use HLT in real-world contexts with greater confidence and to manage the associated risks and challenges. However, most participants expressed concerns about PE teachers’ own digital competence and suggested that initial and ongoing teacher professional development focused on enhancing their digital competence was needed.Conclusion This study extends our understanding of why young people turn to HLT to support their healthy active lifestyles, and notably shows that, without such structured support, individuals may be forced to rely heavily on informal learning experiences. Given their limited digital PE experiences, the subject, in most cases, did not effectively bridge the gap between formal school settings and informal, self-regulated learning environments for these young adults. PE also fell short in facilitating engagement in participatory digital cultures or significantly supporting participants’ use of HLT in real-life situations beyond the school setting. This finding underscores a persistent limitation of PE in preparing young people to use HLT effectively beyond school settings to support their lifelong PA participation and health learning.