STUDY PROTOCOL article

Front. Public Health

Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1554070

Development of a Physical Literacy Consensus Statement for Chile. Study Protocol

Provisionally accepted
  • 1CIAM Physical Literacy Research Centre, Temuco, Chile
  • 2Department of Physical Education, Sports and Recreation, Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Humanities, University of La Frontera, Temuco, Chile
  • 3University of Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile
  • 4Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Region de Aysen, Coyhaique, Chile
  • 5Universidad Adventista de Chile, Chillán, Bio Bio, Chile
  • 6Catholic University of the Maule, Talca, Chile
  • 7Metropolitan University of Educational Sciences, Ñuñoa, Santiago Metropolitan Region (RM), Chile
  • 8Universidad Central sede Coquimbo, La Serena, Chile
  • 9Universidad de Atacama, Copiapó, Chile
  • 10Arturo Prat University, Iquique, Chile
  • 11Department of Teaching of Physical Education, Arts and Music, University of Valencia, Valencia, Valencian Community, Spain

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Physical literacy is a multidimensional concept that encompasses various aspects of an individual's ability to engage in physical activities throughout their lifespan. As a holistic approach, physical literacy (PL) has generated a lot of interest in the field of physical education, physical activity, and health promotion. Despite its growing popularity, the conceptualization and understanding differ among the countries. In the case of Latin America, the concept of physical literacy is still relatively new and influenced different countries, making complex the contextualization for this region. Considering some aspects of public policies that seek to promote physical activity in Chile, such as the national policy of physical activity and sport or the curricular bases of the subject of physical education, this paper seeks to propose the systematized elaboration based on evidence to generate a contextualized consensus with the different actors that can contribute to the development of physical literacy in Chile. This protocol will involve mixed methods throughout the implementation of six work package processes: (1) review of the existing evidence about physical literacy for its understanding in Spanish-speaking populations, (2) analysis of drawings (preschoolers), semistructured interviews (children, adolescents, and adults), and focus groups (older adults) to investigate the community's view of physical activity, (3) discussion groups and nationwide online questionnaire to analyze the understanding of the concept of PL by both physical education teachers and political actors, (4) discussion groups to consolidate community perceptions on the relevance of physical activity and physical literacy to prepare a preliminary consensus, (5) national consultation on the draft Physical Literacy Consensus Statement text, and (6) discussion and definition of the Physical Literacy Consensus Statement for Chile. This consensus will help stakeholders, teachers, researchers, and the community in general to understand a common concept of physical literacy, which will allow its development, promotion, and application in the Chilean context. Likewise, this work could be a spearhead to the implementation of physical literacy in Latin America and low-and middle-income countries in other regions.

Keywords: Physical Literacy, Physical Education, physical activity, Public policies, consensus

Received: 31 Dec 2024; Accepted: 18 Apr 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Carcamo-Oyarzun, Rivera-Gutierrez, Henriquez-Alvear, Delgado-Floody, Ferbol, Diaz-Alvarado, Cumilef-Bustamante, Martínez Lopez, Guarda-saavedra, CANDIA, Pavez-Adasme, Castillo-Retamal, Vargas Vitoria, Ibarra Mora, Veas-Alfaro, Diaz, Añazco-Martinez and Estevan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Jaime Carcamo-Oyarzun, CIAM Physical Literacy Research Centre, Temuco, Chile

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