Recent years have seen the extension of the Olympic legacy concept to include the use of sport in international development. As in the wider policy area of international development, the external ...partners that fund sport programmes require in-country accountability for the use of their investment and this has led to monitoring and evaluation (M+E) programmes becoming prominent in knowledge production in sport. Academic and policy debates have emerged around the significant methodological challenges in conducting M+E in international development contexts, but less attention has been paid to the social processes implicit in M+E systems. These processes are significant because of the role of M+E as a mechanism of accountability and control between 'donors' and 'recipients' of international development aid. Informed by five years experience of evaluating international sport in development programmes and Olympic legacy initiatives, this paper explores this aspect of the role of M+E. It draws on the wider international development literature to examine the role of M+E in the relationship between funders and recipients, especially when M+E practices are problematic. The paper suggests that despite the rhetoric of 'partnership' that surrounds sport in development and Olympic legacy programmes, M+E systems play a major role in constructing the donor-recipient relationship as hierarchical. M+E procedures are shaped by funders' information requirements, emphasize external accountability, limit local programme learning, compromise data quality and impose burdensome forms of data collection and reporting that undermine relationships. The paper advocates refocusing M+E approaches to serve internal programme learning needs rather than external funders' determined but inconclusive quest for 'evidence'.
The use of sport in pursuit of international development goals is broadening, with widespread policy support for sports-based programmes that promote social, educational and health goals. Academic ...assessment has however been more critical, posing searching questions about the paucity of evidence that justifies the use of sport in these roles. Recent growth in evaluation studies has increased the evidence-base but carries some risks of privileging positivist forms of knowledge and fails to engage with issues surrounding decolonization of research.
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This essay suggests that reflexive qualitative studies that capture authentic local knowledge can help address both of these issues, illustrating this through an exploratory study conducted with young women and adult sport workers involved in a 'successful' community-based sports programme in Delhi, India (n = 38). It is argued that the form of data obtained can enhance academic understanding and assist in the process of decolonization of sport-in-development research.
Sit-stand desk interventions have the potential to reduce workplace sedentary behaviour and improve employee health. However, the extent of sit-stand desk use varies between employees and in ...different organisational contexts. Framed by organisational cultural theory and product design theory, this study examined employees' lived experience of taking part in a workplace sit-stand desk intervention, to understand the processes influencing feasibility and acceptability.
Participant observations and qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 employees from two office-based workplaces in the UK, as part of a process evaluation that ran alongside a pilot RCT of a workplace sit-stand desk intervention. Observational field notes and transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis.
Three themes related to the experience of using a sit-stand desk at work were generated: employees' relationship with their sit-stand desk; aspirations and outcomes related to employee health and productivity; and cultural norms and interpersonal relationships. The perceived usability of the desk varied depending on how employees interacted with the desk within their personal and organisational context. Employees reported that the perceived influence of the desk on their productivity levels shaped use of the desk; those who perceived that standing increased energy and alertness tended to stand more often. Sit-stand desks were voiced as being more acceptable than intervention strategies that involve leaving the desk, as productivity was conflated with being at the desk.
The findings indicate a range of organisational, social-cultural and individual-level factors that shape the feasibility and acceptability of sit-stand desk use, and suggest strategies for improving employees' experiences of using a sit-stand desk at work, which might positively influence sedentary behaviour reduction and health.
Clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT02172599, 22nd June 2014 (prospectively registered).
This jointly authored book extends understanding of the use of sport to address global development agendas by offering an important departure from prevailing theoretical and methodological approaches ...in the field. Drawing on nearly a decade of wide-ranging multidisciplinary research undertaken with young people and adults living and working in urban communities in Zambia, the book presents a localised account that locates sport for development in historical, political, economic and social context. A key feature of the book is its detailed examination of the lives, experiences and responses of young people involved in sport for development activities, drawn from their own accounts. The book's unique approach and content will be highly relevant to academic researchers and post-graduate students studying sport and development in across many different contexts.
This paper analyses the capacity of youth sport volunteering to contribute to the development of social capital. Following a review of the emergence of social capital as a key theme in UK sport ...policy, the paper focuses on the ability of a structured sports volunteering programme to equip young people with skills for effective volunteering, and provide opportunities for 'social connectedness' through sports volunteer placements. The study uses survey data (n=160) and qualitative interviews (n=10) with young people to examine how the national Step into Sport programme impacts on participants' personal and skill development, and on their commitment to community involvement. Interviews with education and sport professionals (n=33) provide additional expert perspectives on the programme's impact on participants. Both sets of respondents report strong individual benefits to participants from their involvement, and increased social connectedness in a range of contexts. The paper concludes by considering the implications of the study for claims about the potential contribution of sport to social capital.
Aims:
The role of arts and music in supporting subjective wellbeing (SWB) is increasingly recognised. Robust evidence is needed to support policy and practice. This article reports on the first of ...four reviews of Culture, Sport and Wellbeing (CSW) commissioned by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)-funded What Works Centre for Wellbeing (https://whatworkswellbeing.org/).
Objective:
To identify SWB outcomes for music and singing in adults.
Methods:
Comprehensive literature searches were conducted in PsychInfo, Medline, ERIC, Arts and Humanities, Social Science and Science Citation Indexes, Scopus, PILOTS and CINAHL databases. From 5,397 records identified, 61 relevant records were assessed using GRADE and CERQual schema.
Results:
A wide range of wellbeing measures was used, with no consistency in how SWB was measured across the studies. A wide range of activities was reported, most commonly music listening and regular group singing. Music has been associated with reduced anxiety in young adults, enhanced mood and purpose in adults and mental wellbeing, quality of life, self-awareness and coping in people with diagnosed health conditions. Music and singing have been shown to be effective in enhancing morale and reducing risk of depression in older people. Few studies address SWB in people with dementia. While there are a few studies of music with marginalised communities, participants in community choirs tend to be female, white and relatively well educated. Research challenges include recruiting participants with baseline wellbeing scores that are low enough to record any significant or noteworthy change following a music or singing intervention.
Conclusions:
There is reliable evidence for positive effects of music and singing on wellbeing in adults. There remains a need for research with sub-groups who are at greater risk of lower levels of wellbeing, and on the processes by which wellbeing outcomes are, or are not, achieved.
Community sport can potentially help to increase levels of physical activity and improve public health. Sport coaches have a role to play in designing and implementing community sport for health. To ...equip the community sport workforce with the knowledge and skills to design and deliver sport and empower inactive participants to take part, this study delivered a bespoke training package on public health and recruiting inactive people to community sport for sport coaches. We examined the views of sport coach participants about the training and their role in designing and delivering a complex community sport intervention for increasing physical activity and improving health.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with paid full-time sport coaches (n = 15) and community sport managers and commissioners (n = 15) with expertise in sport coaching. Interviews were conducted by a skilled interviewer with in-depth understanding of community sport and sport coach training, transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic analysis.
Three key themes were identified showing how the role of sport coaches can be maximised in designing and delivering community sport for physical activity and health outcomes, and in empowering participants to take part. The themes were: (1) training sport coaches in understanding public health, (2) public involvement in community sport for health, and (3) building collaborations between community sport and public health sectors.
Training for sport coaches is required to develop understandings of public health and skills in targeting, recruiting and retaining inactive people to community sport. Public involvement in designing community sport is significant in empowering inactive people to take part. Ongoing knowledge exchange activities between the community sport and public health sector are also required in ensuring community sport can increase physical activity and improve public health.
ObjectivesAn effectiveness and cost-effectiveness analyses of two-staged community sports interventions; taster sports sessions compared with portfolio of community sport ...sessions.DesignQuasi-experiment using an interrupted time series design.SettingCommunity sports projects delivered by eight lead partners in London Borough of Hounslow, UK.ParticipantsInactive people aged 14 plus years (n=246) were recruited between May 2013 and February 2014.InterventionsCommunity sports interventions delivered in two stages, 6-week programme of taster sport sessions (stage 1) and 6-week programme of portfolio of community sporting sessions delivered by trained coaches (stage 2).Outcome measures(a) Change in days with ≥30 min of self-reported vigorous intensity physical activity (PA), moderate intensity PA, walking and sport; and (b) change in subjective well-being and EQ5D5L quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs).MethodsInterrupted time series analysis evaluated the effectiveness of the two-staged sports programmes. Cost-effectiveness analysis compares stage 2 with stage 1 from a provider’s perspective, reporting outcomes of incremental cost per QALY (2015/2016 price year). Uncertainty was assessed using deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses.ResultsCompared with stage 1, counterfactual change at 21 days in PA was lower for vigorous (log odds: −0.52; 95% CI −1 to –0.03), moderate PA (−0.50; 95% CI 0.94 to 0.05) and sport(−0.56; 95% CI −1.02 to –0.10). Stage 2 increased walking (0.28; 95% CI 0.3 to 0.52). Effect overtime was similar. Counterfactual change at 21 days in well-being was positive particularly for ‘happiness’ (0.29; 95% CI 0.06 to 0.51). Stage 2 was more expensive (£101 per participant) but increased QALYs (0.001; 95% CI −0.034 to 0.036). Cost per QALY for stage 2 was £50 000 and has 29% chance of being cost-effective (£30 000 threshold).ConclusionCommunity-based sport interventions could increase PA among inactive people. Less intensive sports sessions may be more effective and cost-effective.
The promotion of physical activity for older people is dominated by biomedically informed polices emphasizing the prescription of exercise as medicine and a universal approach to the promotion of ...active aging in later life. Yet, more recent research recognizes that being physically active in later life is complex and contested, shaped by the intersections of biological, psychological, and sociological experiences, and requires differentiated responses that address this complexity. There is a disconnect between research, policy, and the physical activity experiences of older people which leads to over-generalized policy and practice in the promotion and delivery of community sport to older people. This paper presents findings from a complex community sport project employing a coproduction framework with low income older age people. Participatory community approaches including focus group discussions, and extended observations and informal conversations throughout the project develop understanding of the complexities of aging and community sport engagement among older people with limited income. Three themes are identified and discussed: (1) lived experience, aging bodies, and the changing dynamics of involvement in sport and exercise in the life course, (2) embodying aging-moving beyond practical barriers for understanding aging, lived experience and being physically active, and (3) corporeal pleasures of older sporting bodies. The paper concludes that there is a need to explore the significance of locally specific public knowledge from older people which directly addresses the complexity and inequalities of individuals' everyday lives in their communities; lived experiences likely to impact on preferences for, engagement in, and enjoyment of physical activity.
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