A university system-wide qualitative investigation into student physical activity promotion conducted on college campuses.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine college student physical activity promotion.

Design: A cross-sectional approach to qualitative research was used.

Setting: Southeastern state university system.

Participants: Fourteen of 15 (93%) universities recruited were included in this study; 22 university employees participated in a semistructured interview.

Method: Nonprobabilistic purposive and snowball sampling strategies were used to recruit individuals who were likely to be engaged in physical activity promotion efforts on their respective campuses. Thematic analyses lead to the identification of emerging themes that were coded and analyzed using NVivo software.

Results: Themes informed three main areas: key personnel responsible for promoting physical activity to students, actual physical activity promotion efforts implemented, and factors that influence student physical activity promotion. Results suggest that ecological approaches to promote physical activity on college campuses are underused, the targeting of mediators of physical activity in college students is limited, and values held by university administration influence campus physical activity promotion.

Conclusion: Findings support recommendations for future research and practice. Practitioners should attempt to implement social ecological approaches that target scientifically established mediators of physical activity in college students. Replication of this study is needed to compare these findings with other types of universities, and to investigate the relationship between promotion activities (type and exposure) and physical activity behaviors of college students.