Abstract
Over a decade ago, Brawley and Paskevich (1997) identified the need to evaluate team building (TB) interventions in activity settings. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Freshman Fitteen, a TB intervention delivered online to enhance group cohesion and physical performance of first year university students. Seven semi-structured focus groups were conducted with participants who completed the program (n=14), dropouts (n=5), and exercise leaders (n=5) two weeks post intervention. Participant interview questions investigated what factors participants identified that led them to complete or dropout of the program and whether the online TB protocol was effective. Interview questions for the exercise leaders centered on identifying the strengths and weaknesses of delivering a TB intervention online. Emerging themes for participant adherence included social support and cohesion. Emerging themes for participant drop out included lack of time and accessibility. In terms of the effectiveness of the online intervention, participants stated that they enjoyed the online TB experience and improved their physical activity adherence through the content that was delivered online. Exercise leaders reported that the strengths of the online TB intervention included improved communication among participants and improved accessibility to the team building content for participants and leaders. Findings are consistent with past research examining the beneficial effects of team building (Stevens & Bloom, 2003; Voight & Callaghan, 2001) and offers support for an online TB intervention to help first year university students to overcome the barriers to physical activity and improve exercise adherence.Acknowledgments: The project was supported by the Schulich School of Education, Nipissing University.