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Background Although sports clubs' potential for health promotion is acknowledged, research on whether they promote healthy eating is limited. We aimed to evaluate Finnish youth sports clubs' health promotion orientation, as well as associations between sports clubs' health promotion orientation, coaches' nutritional discussions and sports club participants' (SPs') fruit and/or vegetable consumption. Methods The cross-sectional study included 554 SPs aged 14–16 years, 275 club officials and 311 coaches. Participants replied to questionnaires about sports clubs' health promotion and their own health behaviours, including dietary habits. Health promotion orientation was estimated using a Health Promoting Sports Club (HPSC) index (range 0–22) and nutritional discussions and fruit and/or vegetable consumption as frequencies. A mixed-effects multivariable logistic regression was used to analyse the associations. Results Most sports clubs (69%) had a high health promotion orientation, but the variation between the clubs was wide (HPSC index range 5–21). SPs' daily fruit and/or vegetable consumption was associated with female gender [odds ratio (OR) 3.48, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.23–5.42, P  < 0.001], better self-rated health (OR 3.26, 95% CI 1.13–9.41, P  = 0.03), higher average school grades (OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.04–2.67, P  = 0.03), and SPs' responses that their coach had often discussed nutrition (OR 2.11, 95% CI 1.41–3.14, P  < 0.001). Conclusion Although sports clubs' orientation towards health promotion was mostly high, it seems not to be enough to promote healthy eating among adolescent participants. Instead, coaches' nutritional discussions were associated with adolescents' fruit and/or vegetable consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The health promoting sports club describes the development of the settings-based approach in sports clubs. Based on this model, a questionnaire was developed to measure health promotion perceptions in sports clubs (e-PROSCeSS). The objective of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of a French version of the e-PROSCeSS measurement tool. The questionnaire includes three scales measuring stakeholder's perceptions of club (macro), managers (meso) and coaches (micro) activities toward promoting health. Five steps were undertaken to assess perceptions. First, scales were translated into French. Second, each item's content clarity was tested in three populations: managers, coaches, sports participants. Third, descriptive statistics were analyzed for each scale. Fourth, confirmatory factorial analysis was used to select items for each level. Predictive validity found positive relationships between health promotion perceptions and managing/coaching positions, and negative relationships with drop-out intentions. Positive relationships were found between sports participants' perceptions of health promotion and their self-rated performance and quality of life, while negative relationships were detected with drop-out intentions. The French e-PROSCeSS subscales showed good psychometric properties in measuring health determinants at multiple levels. However, the tool did not measure health promotion as an overarching concept that questions its applicability in the sports club setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: A recent literature review indicated that the settings-based approach, as it is applied to sports clubs, is poorly understood and not well implemented. The current study builds on the health promoting sports clubs (HPSC) theoretical model as a basis for a settings-based approach in the sports setting and proposes a logic model to develop and evaluate HPSC in practice. The logic model was established through qualitative, iterative methods in the form of six meetings with eight experts in the field. Qualitative thematic coding was conducted on notes taken and contributions during and between meetings. The results describe a best-practice logic model of HPSC, including inputs, activities, outcomes and impacts at each HPSC level, while case studies illustrate the interactions between levels. Results indicate that a HPSC can have an impact at each level, from individual health to social and community capital. For a sports club, the logic model helps to define how the club's board or management committee can set the conditions for club managers and coaches to support members' health. External stakeholders to clubs are also recognized for their key responsibility in providing different types of resources to support sports clubs to be health promoting. Future research should focus on monitoring and evaluating at each level, including empirical testing system interactions as a whole and interactions across levels. Lay Summary: This article describes a logic model for health promoting sports clubs (HPSC), informed by a settings-based approach. It demonstrates how each of the seven levels of the HPSC model can request resources, implement activities to generate outcomes and impact at their level, as well as how these levels interact. This logic model offers explicit descriptions of the resources needed by stakeholders to develop health promotion (HP) activities. It also highlights the relationships between activities and outcomes, which are often made implicitly by sports club stakeholders, supporting the understanding about how HP can enhance a sports club's core business. This logic model can be used to develop interventions, and to support monitoring and evaluation of processes, activities and results to investigate how sports clubs promote health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The aerobic part of the recently updated physical activity (PA) guidelines for adults recommends at least 150 min of moderate or at least 75 of vigorous-intensity PA or an equivalent combination of both. PA can be accumulated of any bout duration. On an absolute scale, moderate-intensity threshold is 3 metabolic equivalents (METs) and vigorous 6 METs. On a scale relative to individual's personal capacity, moderate-intensity threshold is 40% and vigorous 60% of the oxygen uptake reserve. In this study, the adherence to the new guidelines was evaluated using both absolute and relative thresholds. Methods Totally, 1645 adults aged 20–64 years, participated in this population-based study and their cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) was estimated with 6-min walking test. The participants with estimated maximal oxygen uptake <7.9 MET were categorized as low CRF group and the others as adequate CRF group. The participants were instructed to wear a triaxial hip-worn accelerometer for 1 week and their adherence to PA guidelines was assessed from the accelerometer data. Results The adequate CRF group had higher adherence to PA guidelines with the absolute thresholds, but the use of relative thresholds inverted the results. The adherence varied from 20% to 99% in the total sample depending on the analysis parameters of accelerometer data. Conclusions The absolute thresholds provide a more appropriate basis to assess the adherence to PA guidelines in population-based samples and interventions. The use of individually determined relative thresholds may be more useful for individual exercise prescriptions in PA counseling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Sports clubs have requested support from national governing authorities to invest in health promotion (HP), by developing policies, guidelines and dedicated funding. This article outlines the development of a national audit tool to review policies development and implementation to support HP in sports clubs. Methods A five-step process was undertaken by an international project team: (i) a rapid literature review to identify items assessing policies in physical activity, HP and sports, (ii) a thematic analysis to categorize items, (iii) a Delphi method to analyze item relevance, country specificity, reformulation, validation and organization, (iv) face validity through an online survey and in-depth interviews with expert representatives on physical activity and sports and (v) audit tool finalization though project team consensus. Results Eight sources were reviewed with 269 items identified. Items were coded into 25 categories with 3 broad themes: policies, actors and settings-based approach. The Delphi study extracted and refined 50 items and categorized them into 10 sections. After revisions from 22 surveys and 8 interviews, consensus was reached by the international project team on 41 items categorized into 11 sections: Role of ministry or department; Policies; Communication; Implementation and Dissemination; Evaluation and Measurement methods; Sub-national-level policies; Funding and Coordination; Participative approach; Actors and Stakeholders; National sporting events; Case studies and Implicated stakeholders. Conclusion To progress HP in the sports club context it is necessary to understand existing national-level policies. This national audit tool will aid in monitoring and assessing national policies for health promoting sports clubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sports clubs have a long and traditional history in many countries, yet they remain underdeveloped and underutilized settings for health promotion. Leisure time settings, in general, have been in minor role among settings-based health promotion initiatives. Current health concerns in western countries, such as sedentary lifestyles and obesity, have aroused a need to expand health promotion to include also settings with greater potential to reach and engage children and adolescents in more vigorous activity. To develop these alternative, most often non-institutional, settings to the level of the established ones, it is important to review what has been done, what has been accepted and what is known from research, theory and practice to have contributed to health. Given that settings approaches have been implemented with diverse scope and without close cooperation between different initiatives, the first aim of this paper is, on the basis of a review of commonly used theories and practices, to propose a mutual definition for the settings approach to health promotion. The second is to examine the applicability of the theoretical basis to youth sports club settings. Sports clubs are used as a reflective setting when reviewing the traditional ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]