Conference Agenda

Background and Aim: Recruiting adolescent girls into physical activity (PA) programmes remains a persistent challenge, limiting the reach and impact of PA interventions. This study aimed to pilot test consensus-based recruitment strategies previously identified in a systematic review and refined through a Delphi process involving PA providers and adolescent girls.

Methods: A non-randomised, pre-post pilot study was conducted in seven Dublin secondary schools. Recruitment outcomes were measured during control programmes (2023-2024) and intervention programmes (2024-2025), which incorporated recruitment plans co-designed with schools based on consensus strategies and available resources. Implementation fidelity was assessed using an adapted instrument.

Results: Mean recruitment rates were higher in intervention than control programmes (21.7% ±19.5 vs 12.0% ±9.0), although not statistically significant. Recruitment rates ranged from 3.1-24.1% in control programmes and 7.5-55.3% in intervention programmes. Programme awareness differed significantly between years (χ²(1)=26.5, p<.001): 61.1% of sampled non-participants in the control year versus 28.6% in the intervention year had never heard about the programme, suggesting recruitment strategies reached more girls. Implementation fidelity was positively correlated with recruitment rate (Spearman’s ρ=.919, p=.003, n=7). Teachers were the most frequently cited recruitment pathway (control: 85.5% of participants; intervention: 87.5%).

Conclusions: Consensus-based recruitment strategies may increase awareness of PA programmes among adolescent girls, but recruitment success appears to depend on implementation fidelity. Findings should be interpreted cautiously due to the small number of programmes, variability across schools, and differences in eligible population size. Larger controlled studies are needed to determine whether these strategies translate into sustained improvements in recruitment.