Atividades extracurriculares e outras ocupações de tempo livre em adolescentes - um modelo para investigação fundamentado por grupos focais

Extracurricular activities and other free time occupations in adolescents − a research model validated by focus groups

Abstract

Objective: To explore the thematic area of ‘use of free time’ among adolescents, identifying emerging concepts, semantic
and content organizations. This survey is intended to support the content validity of written investigations into extracurricular
activities and how their remaining free time is used. Methods: A qualitative study conducted in two urban schools, with
adolescents in the 8th and 9th grades. A semi-structured approach was used in three focus groups (Krueger methodology),
two with gender separation and one with both genders, with 4 to 8 adolescents, lasting 45 to 60 minutes, conducted by a moderator and co-moderator. The groups were recorded and transcribed verbatim for a systematic analysis of their content.
Results: A total of eighteen adolescents between 13 and 14 years old participated in the study, of whom 12 were girls.
The main emerging key themes were arranged in the areas of: (1) concept of extracurricular activity, (2) relativity of the
notion of free time and (3) systematization of free time activities. Three systematization binomials were identifi ed for the
level of organization, location and type of activities: formal x informal; at school x out of school and physical x sedentary.
Conclusion: Data collection systematized in compliance with the proposed organization may be a useful tool in the research
context for fi ne-tuning self-completion reports on extracurricular activities and how they fi ll their remaining free time.