Abstract
BackgroundSports and arts based services for children have positive impacts on their mental and physical health. The charity sector provides such services, often set up in response to local communities expressing a need. The present study maps resilience promoting services provided by children's charities in England. Specifically, the prominence of sports and arts activities, and types of mental health provisions including telephone help-lines, are investigated.FindingsThe study was a cross-sectional web-based survey of chief executives, senior mangers, directors and chairs of charities providing services for children under the age of 16. The aims, objectives and activities of participating children's charities and those providing mental health services were described overall. In total 167 chief executives, senior managers, directors and chairs of charities in England agreed to complete the survey. From our sample of charities, arts activities were the most frequently provided services (58/167, 35%), followed by counselling (55/167, 33%) and sports activities (36/167, 22%). Only 13% (22/167) of charities expected their work to contribute to the health legacy of the 2012 London Olympics. Telephone help lines were provided by 16% of the charities that promote mental health.ConclusionsCounselling and arts activities were relatively common. Sports activities were limited despite the evidence base that sport and physical activity are effective interventions for well-being and health gain. Few of the charities we surveyed expected a health legacy from the 2012 London Olympics.
Highlights
Sports and arts based services for children have positive impacts on their mental and physical health
Sports activities were limited despite the evidence base that sport and physical activity are effective interventions for well-being and health gain
The emphasis in social policy and public health is on preventing mental health problems, in part by strengthening resilience through
Summary
Sports and arts based services for children have positive impacts on their mental and physical health. The present study maps resilience promoting services provided by children’s charities in England. The prominence of sports and arts activities, and types of mental health provisions including telephone help-lines, are investigated. Among the top 21 industrialised countries in the world, the UK ranks in the bottom third for children’s health, with concerns about quality of their relationships with parents, risk taking behaviour, and relative poverty [4]. Emotional and behavioural problems are being identified as major causes of disability in children [5]. The emphasis in social policy and public health is on preventing mental health problems, in part by strengthening resilience through health promoting services as well as building knowledge about healthy lifestyles. Overall sport and physical activity are used at a public health level and as individual intervention [8,9,10]
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