Table 3.

Possible interventions that could ameliorate the impact of the barriers to physical activities associated with the seven themes

Theme	Effect on PA	Modifiable?	Possible intervention
1. Poverty	Stigma of poverty leads to inactivity: muscles are a sign of poverty, as poor girls have to work at home. Muscles are therefore to be avoided by being sedentary.	Not as part of a PA intervention but can be used as a lever to promote PA	Provide incentives for participation in sports, on a conditional cash transfer principle.
2. Body image ideals	Conflicting peer group perspectives of both benefits and disadvantages of being thin and overweight.	Yes	Develop empowering messages about healthy weight and body image.
3. Gender	Fewer opportunities for girls to be physically active. Girls’ sports facilities are invariably worse than that for boys.	Yes Yes	Promote girls-only activities, for ALL girls. Promote female sports teachers and youth leaders. Increase resources for acquiring and maintaining equipment and facilities (see also 7 below).
4. Parents and home life	Parental fears of sexual activity of their daughters (coerced or not) and pregnancy; they want to keep them at home, where they are safe, and often physically inactive.	Yes	Encourage parental engagement and attendance at sports events where their daughters are participating.
5. Demographic factors	Older teenagers tend to exercise less The need for national identification documents can make it hard for undocumented migrants to participate in organised sports.	Yes No	Offer the possibility for physical activities that older teenagers will want to engage in.
6. Perceived health effects of PA	Perceived benefits of PA could lead to more activity; perceived risks of PA could lead to less activity.	Yes	Design appropriate health messages about PA.
7. Human and infrastructural resources	Poor infrastructure and feelings of isolation reduce possibilities for the provision of organised physical activity.	Yes	Provide training and support for youth leaders and sports teachers. Increase resources for acquiring and maintaining equipment and facilities.

PA=physical activity.