Health Promoting Sports Club Research Articles

Youth sports clubs’ potential as health-promoting setting: Profiles, motives and barriers

Setting and Objective: For decades, the World Health Organisation has promoted settings-based health promotion, but its application to leisure settings is minimal. Focusing on organised sports as an important leisure activity, the present study had three goals: exploring the health promotion profile of youth sports clubs, identifying objective club characteristics (e.g. size, type of sport), predicting the presence/absence of health promotion in youth sports clubs and identifying perceived motives and barriers to health promotion in youth sports clubs, thereby improving the basis for policy guidelines. Method: Respondents were representatives from the board of 154 youth sports clubs. Data were collected through an online survey, including the health-promoting sports club index (HPSC-I). Linear regression and analysis of variance were used to identify predictors and differences. Results: Even though the motives were strongly supported, a majority of youth sports clubs were rated as low health promoting on the HPSC-I (59%). Overall, linear regression indicated that clubs founded more recently, offering multiple types of sports and offering both recreation and competition scored higher on the health promotion indices. Health promotion not being a priority of the board and lack of expertise were identified as the most important barriers. Conclusion: Progress is needed before youth sports clubs can truly be considered health-promoting settings. Policy suggestions are made to address the barriers, for example, financial incentives to maximise efforts and establishing collaborations between sports clubs and health promotion experts.

Coaches’ perceptions of French sports clubs: Health-promotion activities, aims and coach motivation

Background: Given the benefits of participating in sport, sports clubs have been recognised as health-promoting organizations. To examine health-promotion activities in Finnish sports clubs, Kokko et al. developed a set of standards for health-promoting sports clubs (HPSC). Objective: The present study extends this line of research, by (1) measuring coaches’ perceptions of health- promotion activities in French sports clubs and comparing them to earlier Finnish results, (2) measuring coaches’ perceptions of the health-promotion aims of sports clubs and (3) examining the links between HPSC and coaches’ self-determined motivation. Methods: Coaches ( N = 125) completed a modified version of the HPSC questionnaire and a scale assessing their motivation to coach. Results: Coaches perceived French and Finnish sports clubs as fairly health promoting, but with wide variability between clubs. In both countries, sports clubs scores showed the same patterns: high scores for ideology and environment activities, and low scores for policies, practices and partnership. Coaches’ perceptions of clubs’ aims also followed the same pattern, but with higher scores for each dimension, meaning that coaches considered health promotion as a relevant aim for sports clubs. Finally, controlling for demographic variables, the HPSC index and sub-indices were related to coaches’ self-determined motivation. Conclusion: This study strengthens the previous findings for health promotion in the setting of sports clubs and the positive role of these activities on coaches’ motivation to coach.

Guidelines for Youth Sports Clubs to Develop, Implement, and Assess Health Promotion Within Its Activities

The settings approach to health promotion is a world-known concept concerning settings like city, hospital, school, and workplace. The concept has also been used in some regionally specific settings, such as island, prison, or university. However, there are still many, often noninstitutional, settings that have a lot of potential but have not yet been recognized. One of the newcomers is the youth sports club, which has the potential to reach a lot of children and adolescents and is effective, via its casual educational nature based on voluntary participation. According to research, health is an important aim for most youth sports clubs, but it has not been converted into practical actions. Indeed, the clubs often recognize the importance of healthy lifestyles, but there is a lack of understanding of what to do to reinforce it within one's activities. That is why, on the basis of the results of the Health Promoting Sports Club survey in Finland, guidelines for clubs to enhance health promotion as a part of their activities were created. The aim of this article is to present the guidelines, theirs rationale, and practical examples.

Food and drink sponsorship of children's sport in Australia: who pays?

The creation of health promoting sports clubs may support the promotion and adoption of healthy behaviours by children. Sponsorship is one aspect of clubs, with potential influence on clubs and their participants. In particular, sponsorship influences brand awareness and attitudes, so that the sponsorship of children's sport by unhealthy food companies may contribute to food preferences and poor eating habits. This study aimed to determine the nature and extent of food and beverage sponsorship of children's sport. Sports clubs (n = 108) for the nine most popular sports for children aged 5-14 were randomly sampled from three large geographical areas in Australia. A purpose-designed telephone questionnaire was developed to determine the extent of sponsorship. Experts from different fields were approached (n = 10) to generate a consensus on the elements of sponsors that are more/less health promoting. The survey response rate was 99%. Of the 347 sponsors identified, 17% were food or beverage companies. Fifty percent of food company sponsorship arrangements did not meet criteria for healthy sponsors. For most clubs, less than a quarter of their income came from sponsorship. A considerable proportion of clubs with food company sponsors had the company's signage on players' uniforms (53%), distributed rewards using the company's name (24%) or gave vouchers to players for the company's products (29%). Any restriction of unhealthy food and beverage company sponsorship of children's sport may not result in major funding difficulties for clubs, as this funding represents a relatively small proportion of their income base, even though it provides major promotional opportunities to sponsors.

Health promotion profile of youth sports clubs in Finland: club officials' and coaches' perceptions

SUMMARYThe purpose of this article is to examine the current health promotion orientation of youth sports clubs in Finland in view of the standards created previously for the health promoting sports club (HPSC). Ninety-seven youth sports clubs participated, and 273 sports club officials and 240 coaches answered the questionnaires. To describe clubs health promotion orientations, an HPSC index was created. The HPSC index was formulated on sub-indices by factor analysis. The sub-indices were: policy, ideology, practice and environment indexes. The results indicate that youth sports clubs are fairly health promoting in general. On average, the clubs fulfilled 12 standards for HPSC out of 22. Every fourth club was categorized as higher health promoting (≥ 15 fulfilled standards), and every third as lower health promoting (<11 fulfilled standards). The variation between clubs was wide. The clubs that had been recognized as exemplary and hence certified by the Young Finland Association were more likely to recognize health promotion than non-certified clubs (OR = 2.36, p = 0.016). The sports club officials were twice as likely to evaluate their clubs as higher health promoting than the coaches (OR = 2.04, p = 0.041). Under the sub-indices, ideologies were recognized best, others less. These findings indicate that minority of the youth sports clubs have realized health promotion comprehensively as a part of their activities. There is a lot of need for development, especially in the area of health promotion policies and practices. The instruments used proved valid and reliable and can therefore be recommended for international use.

The health promoting sports club in Finland--a challenge for the settings-based approach

The purpose of this article is, first, to compile a frame of reference for the health promoting sports club and, second, to develop standards for the concept. This concept is based on the settings-based health promotion approach. Sports clubs are a new setting for health promotion, which until now has been little examined from a settings point of view. Nevertheless, this concept has much potential. For example, sports clubs attract a large number of children and adolescents and their educational nature can be considered to be informal. The present standards were developed using the Delphi method. The researcher, in cooperation with a panel of experts (experts in health promotion, n = 11, and experts in sports clubs, n = 16), sought to create a consensus statement on the standards. At the preliminary stage of the study 64 original standards were created on the basis of existing literature and the principles of the Ottawa Charter. During the three rounds of the Delphi process 15 standards were evaluated as the most important. After the Delphi process, the researcher modified the standards by eliminating overlap, interpolating seven standards to involve all strategic areas of the Ottawa Charter and creating a preliminary typology of the standards. At the subsequent stages of the study, indicators for these standards will be drafted and tested in practice. Therefore, this study would provide tools for determining and evaluating how health promoting a particular sports club is.