Study population and sampling

All physiotherapy undergraduates studying at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2013 were invited to participate in the study (n-115). The undergraduate Physiotherapy programme is a 4-year programme conducted in English, involving both male and female students aged 20–25 years. The study was conducted in 2 phases. Phase one was a quantitative study to evaluate the physical activity levels of physiotherapy students (June-August 2013) and phase two was a qualitative study to identify motives and barriers for physical activity and sports in the same cohort (August–November 2013). The participants were approached directly and informed written consent was obtained from study participants prior to data collection. Ethical approval was provided by the Ethics Review Committee, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka (EC-13-049).