Sporting organisations as settings for health promotion : What is going on in the sport sector?

- Casey, Meghan, Harvey, Jack, Payne, Warren, Eime, Rochelle

  • Authors: Casey, Meghan , Harvey, Jack , Payne, Warren , Eime, Rochelle
  • Date: 2009
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: Paper presented at 2009 Australia Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport, Seventh National Physical Activity Conference, Sixth National Sports Injury Prevention Conference, Be Active '09, Brisbane, Queensland : 14th-17th October 2009
  • Full Text: false
  • Description: Sport and recreation settings have been used to encourage healthier behaviours through a legislative and policy approach to health promotion via the replacement of tobacco industry sponsorship with health-focused sponsorship. Few studies have used standard and rigorous evaluation tools to identify health promotion policies and practices in sport settings. This study identified health promotion changes within Sport Governing Organisations (SGOs) with respect to the implementation of sport-related health promotion policies and practices in the context of SGO-organised events and in terms of the support provided by SGOs to their affiliated clubs. The Health Promotion and Sport Assessment Tool (HP-SAT) was used to measure health promotion policies and practices regarding smoke-free environments, responsible serving of alcohol, healthy eating, sun protection, injury prevention, club management, and a miscellaneous “other” category (e.g., engagement of health inequality groups). The HP-SAT has moderate to excellent reliability (0.41–0.99). Participants completed the HP-SAT in two phases—first they identified their SGOs current health promotion policies and practices (2007); and second they reflected of their SGO's health promotion policies and practices prior to funding from a health promotion body (2003). For each substantive area in the HP-SAT (e.g. smoke-free environments) a composite score was calculated by summing the numerically coded responses to each item pertaining to the particular area. The scores represented the existence and implementation of health promotion policies and practices and were expressed on a scale of 0-100. Paired samples t-tests were used to test for differences in the scores between the two time points. The mean existence and implementation scores for sport-related health promotion policies and practices for SGO-organised events ranged from 42.9 to 77.6 at the retrospective survey, and increased significantly for the current survey (range: 67.8–90.6; p < 0.05) for all composite scores except sun protection and injury prevention policies. The mean existence and implementation score for sport-related health promotion policies and practices for SGO affiliated clubs ranged from 20.8 to 64.7 at the retrospective survey and 46.3–88.5 at the current survey. Statistically significant increases were found for all composite scores except sun protection and injury prevention (p < 0.05). The existence and implementation of items relating to healthy eating were lowest for both surveys; whilst responses for club management and injury prevention were highest for both surveys. These data indicate that sport has increased its capacity and role in promoting good health since 2003.

The role of sport injury and injury risk perceptions on children's continued participation in organised sport

- Siesmaa, Emma, Finch, Caroline, Blitvich, Jennifer, Telford, Amanda

  • Authors: Siesmaa, Emma , Finch, Caroline , Blitvich, Jennifer , Telford, Amanda
  • Date: 2009
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: Paper presented at 2009 Australia Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport, Seventh National Physical Activity Conference, Sixth National Sports Injury Prevention Conference, Be Active '09, Brisbane, Queensland : 14th-17th October 2009
  • Full Text: false
  • Description: Introduction: Child sport participation, both in Australia and internationally, has increased during the past decade and the health benefits associated with child sport participation are now well established. Some evidence suggests that sport participation contributes importantly to children's overall levels of physical activity, thus helping to reduce the risk of childhood obesity and associated childhood diseases. Although the benefits of sport participation are known, sport injury among children has become an international public health concern and it remains unclear how sport injury impacts children's long-term sport involvement. This research aimed to undertake a qualitative investigation of the impact of sport injury experiences and injury risk perceptions on children's on-going sport participation. Methods: Focus group discussions, each with 6–10 children who were involved in an organised (after school) sport, were conducted until saturation of themes was obtained. Children were recruited from sports including badminton, soccer, golf, swimming, dance, netball and cricket and participated at a community or sub-elite level. Each focus group session was approximately 30 min in duration. Questions focussed on children's sport participation, reasons for their continuation or discontinuation of sport involvement, the encouragement or discouragement they received from parents, any injuries they had sustained while participating and whether sport injury discouraged children or their parents from child sport participation in the future. The qualitative research software NVivo was used to analyse the discussions. Results/conclusion: Few children were concerned about the risk of sport injury while participating in sport. However, many children discussed not wanting to play sports such as football, rugby or boxing, perceiving these sports as too rough, and with increased chance of injury. The main reasons children reported for discontinuation of sport involvement were lack of enjoyment and restrictions of their time. Children reported parents to be supportive of their sport behaviours regardless of safety concerns. No instances of parents preventing child sport involvement were reported by children. This study forms part of a larger study, to determine the influence of child and parent injury perceptions on sport choice and participation. Findings will inform sporting bodies of sport injury and safety concerns held by children and their parents, highlighting areas that can be targeted in order to retain child participants.
  • Description: 2003008133

It's not just about competition! Building sport's capacity for population-focused physical activity promotion and development of healthy settings

- Casey, Meghan, Harvey, Jack, Payne, Warren, Eime, Rochelle

  • Authors: Casey, Meghan , Harvey, Jack , Payne, Warren , Eime, Rochelle
  • Date: 2009
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: Paper presented at 2009 Australia Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport, Seventh National Physical Activity Conference, Sixth National Sports Injury Prevention Conference, Be Active '09, Brisbane, Queensland : 14th-17th October 2009
  • Full Text: false
  • Description: Understanding organisational capacity is crucial for addressing how organisations can develop in order to contribute to health promotion objectives and facilitate the implementation of health promotion activities within their settings. This study explored the capacity of Sport Governing Organisations (SGOs) to participate in population-focused health promotion activities. Participants from SGOs in the Australian state of Victoria were invited to complete a Health Promotion and Sport Assessment Tool (HP-SAT) which included items from capacity building checklists (strength of a coalition, capacity of an organisation to tackle health issues, and quality of planning including strategic and operational planning for health promotion) and a partnership analysis tool. Participants completed the HP-SAT in two phases—first to identify their SGO's current capacity to implement health promotion activities; and second a reflection of their SGO's capacity five years previously, prior to funding from a health promotion body. For each substantive area in the HP-SAT (e.g., capacity to address health issues) a composite score was calculated by summing the numerically coded responses to each item pertaining to the particular area. The scores represented the capacity to implement health promotion activities, and were expressed on a scale of 0–100. Paired samples t-tests were used to test for differences in the capacity scores between the two time points. The mean scores for the six capacity and partnership areas ranged from 39.1 to 61.5 at the retrospective survey and significantly increased to 56.9–78.2 for the current survey (p < 0.05 for all six areas). Scores for operational planning for health promotion and SGO collaboration activities increased the most, by 27.9 and 19.4 percentage points, respectively. Strategic planning for health promotion scored the lowest for the current survey. This presentation will discuss how to build capacity within the sport sector to facilitate the implementation of health promotion activities and to engage sport settings in health promotion activities. In particular, it will focus on how to promote health by creating health-promoting environments and/or increase physical activity levels through sport participation.

What is the best way to develop healthy and welcoming sports clubs?

- Payne, Warren, Eime, Rochelle, Casey, Meghan, Donaldson, Alex

  • Authors: Payne, Warren , Eime, Rochelle , Casey, Meghan , Donaldson, Alex
  • Date: 2009
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: Paper presented at 2009 Australia Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport, Seventh National Physical Activity Conference, Sixth National Sports Injury Prevention Conference, Be Active '09, Brisbane, Queensland : 14th-17th October 2009
  • Full Text: false
  • Description: Introduction: Optimizing sporting organisations’ capacity to promote health requires development and implementation of appropriate policies and practices. One part of public health policy development involves establishing and enforcing rules and regulations via either externally enforced regulation (Regulatory Approach: RA) or by providing a broad regulatory framework to empower individuals and organisations to pro-actively identify and address contextually relevant issues through member participation (Self-assessment Approach: SA). SA is generally preferred in health promotion to facilitate organizational change, sustainability and ownership. Recently health promotion agencies have funded Sports Governing Organisations (SGOs) to develop policies and practices to promote the adoption of healthy and welcoming environments (HWEs) in affiliated clubs, thereby enhancing active participation and membership. The purpose of this study was to determine which of the two approaches should be used when implementing policy to promote HWEs in clubs. Methodology: Part A: Two focus groups were held, each with representatives of four SGOs. Part B: In-depth exploration involving interviews with SGO HWE program coordinators and representatives of individual community clubs (RA: n = 7, SA: n = 12) in two sports, one using RA and one SA. Results/conclusions: Part A revealed four SGOs adopted SA, two adopted RA, and two had no formal program. With the SA, there was a conscious effort by SGOs not to overload the community clubs given the limited capacity of club volunteers. The approach focused on providing best practice examples and tools to enable clubs to identify their own needs and priorities. The RA was considered very formal and directed, and usually implemented in a staged way as part of a comprehensive club development program. One SGO believed that the RA made it easier for clubs to better understand the HWE program. Part B revealed that both approaches had preferred elements. The club representatives liked the RA as it provided clear guidelines and expectations. It also assisted in standardising policies and practices and therefore assisted clubs to sustain effective management systems. The SA required that clubs had the capacity to identify their needs and priorities through the use of SGO-provided resources. Clubs reportedly enjoyed identifying their own priorities and continually developing within their own capacities and time frames. This approach favoured the development of HWE practices rather than policies. In contrast to accepted health promotion approaches, RA and SA were equally endorsed by their recipients. These findings will be discussed in relation to models of organisational transformation and capacity building.

Curriculum renewal in exercise science : AAESS session

- Selig, Steve, Coombes, J. S., Otago, Leonie, Pascoe, Deborah, Raymond, J., Torode, M., Groeller, H.

The development of guidelines for using synthetic surfaces in Australian football and cricket

- Twomey, Dara, Otago, Leonie, Saunders, Natalie

  • Authors: Twomey, Dara , Otago, Leonie , Saunders, Natalie
  • Date: 2009
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: Paper presented at 2009 Australia Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport, Seventh National Physical Activity Conference, Sixth National Sports Injury Prevention Conference, Be Active '09, Brisbane, Queensland : 14th-17th October 2009
  • Full Text: false
  • Description: Given the current climatic conditions, synthetic surfaces have been explored as a viable option for Australian football/cricket ovals in drought regions in Australia. The aim of this paper is to describe the processes required prior to the installation of a synthetic surface to ensure player safety, and challenges in the development of criteria for a multi-sport surface. Artificial surfaces have been used for many sports worldwide for decades, but it is only since the late 1990s that the “third generation” turf surfaces made of long and more widely spread fibres of propylene or polyethylene filled with rubber granules have been adopted. These surfaces have proved satisfactory for some football codes and have grown in popularity in many parts of the world. Sports, such as, soccer, rugby union and hockey have developed specific criteria for synthetic turf manufacturing companies to satisfy prior to the installation of a field. In these instances, although it may be used by other sports after installation, the product is only obliged to meet the requirements set by one governing body. In Australia, however, the majority of Australian football ovals are used for cricket during the football off season. Therefore, in the development of criteria for player safety and to maintain the characteristics of the games on natural turf both Australian football and cricket had to be duly considered. A study was undertaken in 2008 to establish a set of criteria which would enable artificial surfaces to replicate the playing performance of natural turf for Australian football and cricket. Testing was undertaken on natural playing surfaces from elite to community level. Tests included hardness, traction, friction, abrasion, ball rebound, ball roll, angled ball behaviour and the establishment of a critical fall height. Australian football and cricket ball were used in the ball interaction tests and the studs/cleats used in both sports were tested for rotational traction. A climatic chamber was also used to determine the effects of different temperatures on the playing characteristics. Data from previous research employing the same protocols for surface characteristics were also considered in the development of a set of criteria. This research highlighted the important factors that need to be optimised for synthetic playing fields to be to be safe and suitable for use. This criteria has now been accepted by the Australian Football League and Cricket Australia and the use of synthetic surfaces for Australian football and cricket is imminent.

Adolescent physical activity during school lunch breaks : Same thing, different day

- Telford, Amanda, Casey, Meghan, Richards, G., Finch, Caroline

  • Authors: Telford, Amanda , Casey, Meghan , Richards, G. , Finch, Caroline
  • Date: 2009
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: Paper presented at 2009 Australia Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport, Seventh National Physical Activity Conference, Sixth National Sports Injury Prevention Conference, Be Active '09, Brisbane, Queensland : 14th-17th October 2009
  • Full Text: false
  • Description: School settings are an essential source of physical activity for adolescents because they provide curricular, co-curricular opportunities in addition to time during scheduled breaks. There has been limited previous research examining the physical activity behaviour of adolescents during break periods. Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the inter-day variability of adolescent's physical activity (PA) during school lunchtime periods. Methods: Participants (n = 40) from yr 8 to 10 (mean age = 14.5 ± 0.8 yrs) wore a SPI-Elite Global Positioning System (GPS) unit during five lunchtimes during a school week. Heart rate (HR), speed, distance, global position, and G force were measured for each participant and reported across a range of play spaces including a cricket net area, grassed oval, quadrangle, basketball/netball court area and seated shaded area for each participant across the five days. Analyses were performed on time periods randomly selected from three days for windows of 20 min+. Time spent within the various play spaces was determined by overlaying GPS data with Google Earth images of the school playground. Results: Independent samples t-tests revealed males (mean = 2.5 ± .97 km) covered a greater distance compared to females (mean = 1.5 ± .73 km) at the p < 0.01 level. Males also displayed significantly higher HR than did females during lunch breaks, at the p < 0.01 level. Students spent significantly more time and covered the greatest distance on the oval (grassed area) when compared to other play spaces (p < 0.01), and girls spent significantly more time in the seated shaded area than did males (p < 0.01). There were no significant differences for inter-day variability of average time, distance, HR, speed or G force within adolescent students’ physical activity during lunchtimes. Conclusions: The results suggest adolescents’ physical activity during lunch breaks is relatively stable across days. There are a number of feasibility issues relating to the use of GPS technology within the context of school settings and these are discussed. Future physical activity interventions targeting adolescents should consider the nature of the play space and may need to be tailored differently for males and females.
  • Description: 2003008134
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