Aims: Insufficient physical activity (PA) is one of the largest public health challenges of our time and requires a multisectoral public-health response. PA recommendations state that all children and adolescents should accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) daily and carry out vigorous PA (VPA) three times weekly. While participation in sports club activities is known to enhance the probability of reaching the recommended overall PA level, less is known about the contribution of sports club participation to VPA, and few cross-national comparisons have been carried out. The purpose of this paper is to study whether participation in sports club activities is associated with meeting the overall PA and VPA recommendations among children and adolescents across six European countries, namely Belgium (Flanders), Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ireland and Sweden. Methods: Analyses were carried out on existing self-reported national data sets using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results: Results indicate that approximately two-thirds of children and adolescents take part in sports club activities in the given countries. Sports club participants were more likely to meet the overall PA recommendations (OR 2.4–6.4) and VPA recommendation (OR 2.8–5.0) than non-participants. Conclusions: The extent to which overall PA and/or VPA is gained through sports club participation versus other settings needs to be further studied. Nonetheless, it can be argued that sports clubs have an important position in PA promotion for younger populations.

Aims: The aims of this review is to compile and identify key issues in international research about youth sports clubs as health-promoting settings, and then discuss the results of the review in terms of a framework for the youth sports club as a health-promoting setting. Methods: The framework guiding this review of research is the health-promoting settings approach introduced by the World Health Organization (WHO). The method used is the integrated review. Inclusion criteria were, first, that the studies concerned sports clubs for young people, not professional clubs; second, that it be a question of voluntary participation in some sort of ongoing organized athletics outside of the regular school curricula; third, that the studies consider issues about youth sports clubs in terms of health-promoting settings as described by WHO. The final sample for the review consists of 44 publications. Results: The review shows that youth sports clubs have plentiful opportunities to be or become health-promoting settings; however this is not something that happens automatically. To do so, the club needs to include an emphasis on certain important elements in its strategies and daily practices. The youth sports club needs to be a supportive and healthy environment with activities designed for and adapted to the specific age-group or stage of development of the youth. Conclusions: To become a health-promoting setting, a youth sports club needs to take a comprehensive approach to its activities, aims, and purposes.

Many researchers and authorities have recognized the important role that sports clubs can play in public health. In spite of attempts to create a theoretical framework in the early 2000s, a thorough understanding of sports clubs as a setting for health promotion (HP) is lacking. Despite calls for more effective, sustainable, and theoretically grounded interventions, previous literature reviews have identified no controlled studies assessing HP interventions in sports clubs. This systematic mapping review details how the settings-based approach is applied through HP interventions in sports clubs and highlights facilitators and barriers for sports clubs to become health-promoting settings. In addition, the mapped facilitators and barriers have been used to reformulate previous guidelines of HP in sports clubs. Seven databases were searched for empirical research published between 1986 and 2017. Fifty-eight studies were included, principally coming from Australia and Europe, describing 33 unique interventions, which targeted mostly male participants in team sports. The settings-based approach was not yet applied in sports clubs, as more than half of the interventions implemented in sports club targeted only one level of the socio-ecological model, as well as focused only on study participants rather than the club overall. Based on empirical data, the analysis of facilitators and barriers helped develop revised guidelines for sports clubs to implement settings-based HP. This will be particularly useful when implementing HP initiatives to aid in the development of sports clubs working with a whole setting approach.

This paper seeks to review the current international health-promoting sports club (HPSC) research, drawing together findings based on case studies from various countries to illustrate the status of HPSCs. In addition, future challenges for HPSC research and implementation are considered. The review includes six case studies from five countries. In summary, there are two major research themes in this area, namely ‘research into HPSC activity’ and ‘research into HPSC networks’. The first theme investigates the extent to which sports clubs and/or national sports organisations invest in health promotion (HP) – both in policy and practice. The latter theme is driven by an intention to widen the scope of HPSCs to reach novel internal actors, like parents, siblings, etc., and/or external non-sporting bodies, like communities, schools, etc. The future challenges for HPSC research require a better understanding of the motives, barriers and capacities of sports clubs and coaches. Sports organisations, clubs and coaches generally support the intent of the HPSC concept, but even with the best evidence- or theory-based HP programmes/guidelines/standards, nothing will happen in practice if the nature and capacities of sports clubs are not better acknowledged. Therefore, a call for embracing implementation science is finally made to enhance implementation.

Aims: The aim of this paper is to advocate for the importance of meaningful leisure time for young people from a health-promotion perspective using experiences from two youth centres in multicultural neighbourhoods in Sweden. Methods: In this practice-based study, data were collected between 2012 and 2014 at two youth centres in multicultural, socially deprived suburbs in Sweden using surveys with 12- to 16-year-old adolescents ( n = 207), seven individual interviews with staff and three cooperation partners in the neighbourhoods, and six group interviews with adolescents (50% girls). Quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods were used for analysis. Results: As part of the youth centres’ strategies, they are open and inclusive, foster supportive relationships, emphasise youth empowerment, and integrate family, school and community in their work. The youth centres are health-promoting settings with regard to four of the action areas in the Ottawa Charter: build healthy public policy, create supportive environments, strengthen community actions and develop personal skills. Conclusions: There is a need for a variety and a combination of various structured and unstructured leisure-time activities because young people’s background and life situation plays a role for their participation in leisure-time activities. We conclude that youth centres are well placed to be or to become health-promoting settings if the activities takes place in a structured environment.

Background: The development of knowledge for health promotion requires an effective mechanism for collaboration between academics, practitioners, and policymakers. The challenge is better to understand the dynamic and ever-changing context of the researcher–practitioner–policymaker–community relationship. Aims: The aims were to explore the factors that foster Academic Practice Policy (APP) partnerships, and to systematically and transparently to review three cases. Methods: Three partnerships were included: Power and Commitment–Alcohol and Drug Prevention by Non-Governmental Organizations in Sweden; Healthy City–Social Inclusion, Urban Governance, and Sustainable Welfare Development; and Empowering Families with Teenagers–Ideals and Reality in Karlskoga and Degerfors. The analysis includes searching for evidence for three hypotheses concerning contextual factors in multi-stakeholder collaboration, and the cumulative effects of partnership synergy. Results: APP partnerships emerge during different phases of research and development. Contextual factors are important; researchers need to be trusted by practitioners and politicians. During planning, it is important to involve the relevant partners. During the implementation phase, time is important. During data collection and capacity building, it is important to have shared objectives for and dialogues about research. Finally, dissemination needs to be integrated into any partnership. The links between process and outcomes in participatory research (PR) can be described by the theory of partnership synergy, which includes consideration of how PR can ensure culturally and logistically appropriate research, enhance recruitment capacity, and generate professional capacity and competence in stakeholder groups. Moreover, there are PR synergies over time. Conclusions: The fundamentals of a genuine partnership are communication, collaboration, shared visions, and willingness of all stakeholders to learn from one another.