Development of the Health Promoting Sports Club - National Audit Tool

Abstract Background Sports clubs have requested support from national governing authorities to invest in health promotion (HP), by developing policies, guidelines and dedicated funding. This manuscript outlines the development of a national audit tool to review policies development and implementation to support HP in sports clubs. Methods A 5-step process was undertaken by an international project team: (1) a rapid literature review to identify items assessing policies in physical activity, HP and sports, (2) a thematic analysis to categorize items, (3) a Delphi method to analyze item relevance, country specificity, reformulation, validation and organization, (4) face validity through an online survey and in-depth interviews with expert representatives on physical activity and sports and (5) audit tool finalization though project team consensus. Results Eight sources were reviewed with 269 items identified. Items were coded into 25 categories with three 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 & Dissemination; Evaluation & Measurement methods; Sub-national level policies; Funding & Coordination; Participative approach; Actors & Stakeholders; National sporting events; Case studies and Implicated stakeholders. Conclusions 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.


Background:
Insufficient physical activity (PA) is a global issue for health. A multifaceted response, including government action, is essential to improve population levels of PA. The purpose of this study was to develop the 'Physical Activity Environment Policy Index' (PA-EPI) monitoring framework to assess government policies and actions for creating a healthy PA environment. Methods: An iterative process was undertaken. This involved a review of policy documents from authoritative organisations, a policy audit of four European countries, and systematic reviews of scientific literature. This was followed by an online consultation with academic experts (N = 101; 20 countries, 72% response rate), and policymakers (N = 40,4 EU countries). During this process, consensus workshops where quantitative and qualitative data alongside theoretical and pragmatic considerations were used to inform PA-EPI development.

Results:
The PA-EPI is conceptualised as a two-component 'policy' and 'infrastructure support' framework. The two components comprise eight policy and seven infrastructure support domains. The policy domains are education, transport, urban design, healthcare, public education (including mass media), sport-for-all, workplaces and community. The infrastructure support domains are leadership, governance, monitoring and intelligence, funding and resources, platforms for interaction, workforce development, and health-in-all-policies. Forty-five 'good practice statements' (GPS) or indicators of ideal good practice within each domain concludes the PA-EPI. A potential eight-step process for conducting the PA-EPI is described.

Conclusions:
Once pre-tested and piloted in several countries of various sizes and income levels, the PA-EPI GPS will evolve into benchmarks established by governments at the forefront of creating and implementing policies to address inactivity.

Background:
Sports clubs have requested support from national governing authorities to invest in health promotion (HP), by developing policies, guidelines and dedicated funding. This manuscript outlines the development of a national audit tool to review policies development and implementation to support HP in sports clubs.

Methods:
A 5-step process was undertaken by an international project team: (1) a rapid literature review to identify items assessing policies in physical activity, HP and sports, (2) a thematic analysis to categorize items, (3) a Delphi method to analyze item relevance, country specificity, reformulation, validation and organization, (4) face validity through an online survey and in-depth interviews with expert representatives on physical activity and sports and (5)  The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated the urgent need for a cross-border and structured European mechanism to exchange, organise and access reliable health information between countries, especially in the area of population health. Population health information, defined by data on health status, health determinants and healthcare systems performance, allows for oriented research to increase the knowledge base in Europe and underpin political decision-making. Its exchange requires timely and topical provision of high-quality health information. There are many indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that affect health through various pathways including secondary consequences on health and wellbeing due to delayed prevention, diagnosis and medical treatment. Within the Population Health Information Research Infrastructure (PHIRI) we look at four use cases measuring the impact of COVID-19 on population health and demonstrating how a broad variety of routine data can be pooled and/or used for secondary analysis in a distributed way across Europe aiming to facilitate research by making scalable, reproducible methods available. These use cases represent pilot activities for the benefits and added value of an infrastructure supporting federated analysis by bringing together data from different European countries and feeding the results into the federated research infrastructure. In over 20 data hubs, data is mobilised and ready to be analysed in a distributed manner. The use case outputs will be processed in an interoperable way by formalising data models, data management processes and analytical pipelines, all of which are part of the client-server PHIRI federated infrastructure implemented as here 10.5281/ zenodo.6483177. The workshop aims to ensure a better understanding of COVID-19 impacts in specific subgroups and risk settings by conducting research through real-life use cases of immediate relevance. The FAIRified use cases analysis results focusing on comparisons between countries are presented and provide actionable outcomes to guide policy makers in preparedness and response scenarios. Knowledge and expertise developed across Europe is shared in this workshop. The four presentations will focus on selected aspects of COVID-19 impacts on population health. The first presentation will be on direct and indirect determinants of COVID-19 infection and outcomes in vulnerable population groups with reference to inequalities. This will be followed by a contribution of COVID-19 related delayed care in breast cancer patients. The third presentation looks at the impacts of COVID-19 on perinatal health inequalities followed by the fourth on insights in COVID-19 related changes in population mental health. Exchange with the audience will facilitate knowledge and opinion exchange through an interactive Mentimeter poll during the session.

Key messages:
The results will support the exchange of knowledge and expertise by facilitating insights in the impacts of COVID-19 in specific subgroups and risk settings compared across European countries. Actionable outcomes to guide political decision-making in preparedness and response scenarios will be provided.
Abstract citation ID: ckac129.273 Impact of COVID-19 on hospitalisation for diverse conditions in European countries