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Research Area 

Physical Activity and Health

Nationality

Spanish and Canadian citizenship

Email

enrique.garcia@ul.ie

Affiliation

Physical Education and Sport Sciences

Research Leader

Prof. Catherine Woods

What attracted you to the Succeed and Lead Fellowship?

The opportunity to work with research leaders in physical activity and health promotion and working collaboratively to address real-life issues. The flexibility provided by the Fellowship to continue developing my current research activities and international collaborations. 

Research Goal

The overall aim of my research is to find effective ways to promote physical activity for health and translate the findings into practice and policy. A particular aim of my research is to engage with community members and stakeholders to jointly address barriers to participation in physical activity and create supportive physical and social environments. 

Research Background

Education: Bachelor of Physical Education, Universidad Politécnica, Madrid, Spain; MSc (concentration in Sport Pedagogy), Université Laval, Quebec City, Canada; PhD (concentration in physical activity and sport psychology), University of Alberta, Edmonton Canada.

Work experience: physical education teacher and sports coach, Research Associate (Alberta Centre for Active Living, Edmonton), Assistant and Associate Professor (McGill University, Montreal), Associate Professor (University of Western Sydney), Research Consultant (Methodological Developments Platform, Quebec Support Unit for Patient Oriented Research, Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, Montreal), Visiting Fellow (Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living, Victoria University, Melbourne). 

Research Expertise

My main research focus is on community-based physical activity and health promotion. A secondary focus is on the study of sport as context for youth development and socialization. 

Research Impact

The main area of application of my research is the development and evaluation of participatory/collaborative approaches to engage with organizations and communities in the search of ways to address issues related to physical inactivity and unhealthy lifestyle behaviours in general while considering a number of interacting individual and environmental factors. A related area of application of my research in recent years concerns the intersection between active and sustainable living by contributing to provide a better understanding of factors that affect adolescents (and their parents) decisions about how to travel/commute to school. My research on youth sports has contributed to an understanding of optimal environments for adolescent sport participants by examining the separate and joint effects of interpersonal and activity-related (e.g., characteristics of practice activities) dimensions of the sport environment.

Selected Publications

Bengoechea, E.G., Lorenzino, L., & Gray, S. (in press). Not academic enough? Enjoyment of physical education and arts education and school engagement in early and middle adolescence. Retos.

Mandic, S., Flaherty, C., Pocock, T., Kek, C. C., McArthur, S., Ergler, C., Chillón, P., & Bengoechea, E.G. (2018). Effects of cycle skills training on children’s cycling-related knowledge, confidence and behaviours. Journal of Transport and Health, 8, 271-282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2017.12.010

Bengoechea, E.G., Wilson, P.M., & Dunn, S. (2017). From liability to challenge: Complex environments are associated with favorable psychosocial outcomes in adolescent sport participants. Journal of Adolescence, 58, 74-83. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2017.05.004

Biddle, S.J.H., Bengoechea, E.G., Wiesner, G. (2017). Sedentary behavior and adiposity in youth: A systematic review of reviews and analysis of causality. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 14, 43. doi: 10.1186/s12966-017-0497-8

Salsberg, J., Macridis, S., Bengoechea, E.G., Macaulay, A.C., & Moore, S. (2017).The shifting dynamics of social roles and project ownership over the lifecycle of a community-based participatory research project. Family Practice34, 305-312. doi: 10.1093/fampra/cmx006.