Health Promoting Sports Club in Practice: A Controlled Evaluation of the GAA Healthy Club Project

Aoife Lane, Niamh Murphy, Colin Regan and David Callaghan
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Aoife Lane: SHE Research Group, Department of Sport and Health Sciences, Athlone Institute of Technology, N37HD68 Athlone, Ireland
Niamh Murphy: Centre for Health Behaviour Research, Department of Sport and Exercise Science, Waterford Institute of Technology, X91K0EK Waterford, Ireland
Colin Regan: Community and Health Department, Gaelic Athletic Association, D03P6K7 Dublin, Ireland
David Callaghan: Sport Ireland, D15F2CC Dublin, Ireland

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 9, 1-17

Abstract: Sport is a developing setting and a relevant system in health promotion but there are few examples of settings-based initiatives and systems thinking in sport. The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) Healthy Club Project (HCP) adopts a settings approach delivered through and by grassroots clubs who respond to local needs while working within a national support system. The aim of this evaluation was to assess and describe the health promotion impact and experience of the HCP. Healthy Clubs ( n = 23) and Control Clubs ( n = 10) completed a Healthy Club Questionnaire at the start and end of the 20-month HCP and Healthy Clubs took part in focus group discussions. Healthy Clubs, using the structures of the HCP, a commitment to health and community engagement, demonstrated a significant improvement in their overall orientation to health promotion, which was not apparent in Control Clubs. The health promotion message is pervading into many aspects of the GAA club apart from that which relates to the day to day business of coaching and providing physical activity for all. The HCP represents health promotion activity embedded within and across systems, with further development and evaluation recommended to measure delivery and impact at the individual level, organisational, and wider societal levels.

Keywords: settings; sports club; health promotion; scaling up; systems thinking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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