Developing a model of physical education teachers’ health service competence in China: based on the grounded theory technical approach

Background: In recent years, public health emergencies have become increasingly frequent, threatening human health. Accordingly, countries worldwide have attached great importance to optimizing their public health service systems. In China, physical education teachers are responsible for conducting health education in schools and improving students’ health; however, China’s health service supply is unbalanced and insufficiently developed. Therefore, this study constructed a health service competence model of Chinese physical education teachers to assess their contribution to the improvement of China’s national public health system. Methods: The qualitative data were primarily gathered through semi-structured interviews. Physical education teachers and researchers of physical education teachers from diverse regions of China (N = 48) were selected as participants using purposive sampling techniques. Grounded theory technical approach was employed to analyze the data through NVivo 11.0 software. Results: The physical education teachers’ health service competence model contained three dimensions: health service beliefs, basic health knowledge, and health service skills. Health service beliefs contained two categories: health service awareness and health service cognition. Basic health knowledge contained two categories: life health knowledge and sports health knowledge. Health service skills contained seven categories: health education skills, management skills, research skills, advocacy skills, emergency skills, organization skills, and alert skills. Conclusion: This study’s model provides a theoretical foundation for Chinese physical education teachers to transition to physical education and health teachers. Utilizing this model in teacher education can contribute to enhancing China’s national public health service system.