Author:

Keywords:

health-promoting sports club, motives/barriers to health promotion, settings-based health promotion, young people's health, Social Sciences, Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Education & Educational Research, Public, Environmental & Occupational Health, Health-promoting sports clubs, motives, barriers to health promotion, POLICIES, SPONSORSHIP, COMMUNITY, PARTICIPATION, FOOTBALL, CHILDREN, COACHES, FINLAND, SCHOOL, FOOD, 1117 Public Health and Health Services, 1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy, Public Health, 3901 Curriculum and pedagogy, 4206 Public health

Abstract:

Setting and Objective: For decades, the World Health Organisation has promoted settings-based health promotion, but its application in 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.