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.