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There is an increasing amount of evidence suggesting youth sports clubs are an important setting for health promotion. Adolescents in sport club settings can benefit from exposures of positive and negative consequences to health. To better understand the sport club context and coaches’ health promotion activity in substance use prevention, this study compares sport club members with non-members aged between 14–16 years old on their experience and use of alcohol, smoking and snuff and coaches’ health promotion activity on substances. Methods: Adolescents (n = 671) from sports clubs and from matched schools (n = 1442) were recruited in this study. Multiple binary logistic regressions were performed on substance use. Results: Higher prevalence of substance use was associated with discussions of substances, often held by coaches. Significantly fewer girls who are sport club members had experiences in alcohol, smoking or snuff than their non-member counter-parts, the differences among boys varied by substance. Fewer sport club members experienced smoking than non-members. More boys used snuff than girls. Conclusions: The most salient points for health promotion were that girls who were sport club members used fewer substances and for boys the picture was more complicated. Coaches could be using reactive strategies through informal learning to address substance use in clubs, although more effective training on substance use for coaches is needed.

Out-of-home mobility is necessary for accessing commodities, making use of neighborhood facilities, and participation in meaningful social, cultural, and physical activities. Mobility also promotes healthy aging as it relates to the basic human need of physical movement. Mobility is typically assessed either with standardized performance-based tests or with self-reports of perceived difficulty in carrying out specific mobility tasks. Mobility declines with increasing age, and the most complex and demanding tasks are affected first. Sometimes people cope with declining functional capacity by making changes in their way or frequency of doing these tasks, thus avoiding facing manifest difficulties. From the physiological point of view, walking is an integrated result of the functioning of the musculoskeletal, cardio-respiratory, sensory and neural systems. Studies have shown that interventions aiming to increase muscle strength will also improve mobility. Physical activity counseling, an educational intervention aiming to increase physical activity, may also prevent mobility decline among older people. Sensory deficits, such as poor vision and hearing may increase the risk of mobility decline. Consequently, rehabilitation of sensory functions may prevent falls and decline in mobility. To promote mobility, it is not enough to target only individuals because environmental barriers to mobility may also accelerate mobility decline among older people. Communities need to promote the accessibility of physical environments while also trying to minimize negative or stereotypic attitudes toward the physical activity of older people. peerReviewed

Objectives: The aim of this Health Promoting Sport Club (HPSC) study was to compare physical activity (PA), sleep time and screen time (ST) between sports club participants (n = 1200) and non-participants (n = 913). Design: A cross-sectional survey design was employed to assess PA, sleep and ST of adolescents. Methods: Information on these was collected from 14 to 16 year old adolescents (1200 sport club participants and 913 non-participants) through a standardized questionnaire. Results: Boys were more physically active than girls and met the PA guidelines more often than girls (p < 0.001). The proportion of youth reaching the PA guidelines was significantly higher among youth participants in organized sports (24.3%) compared to non-participants (14.5%) (p < 0.001). Sport club participants slept longer (1.25 hours) during weekends than non-participants (p < 0.001). Girls reported less ST than (30 minutes) boys (p < 0.001). Sport club participants reported less ST than non-participants (0.5 hours) (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Youth participating in organized sports met the recommendations for PA, ST and sleep more often than nonparticipants, supporting sports clubs’ contribution to health promotion. At the same time, only minor portion of sporting youth met the recommendations, therefore more attention should be focused on sport club participants’ PA, sleep and ST especially in coaching. peerReviewed

BackgroundMobile phone apps for monitoring and promoting physical activity (PA) are extremely popular among adults. Devices, such as heart rate monitors or sports watches (HRMs/SWs) that work with these apps are at sufficiently low costs to be available through the commercial markets. Studies have reported an increase in PA levels among adults with devices; however, it is unknown whether the phenomena are similar during early adolescence. At a time when adolescents start to develop their own sense of independence and build friendship, the ease of smartphone availability in developed countries needs to be investigated in important health promoting behaviors such as PA. ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to investigate the ownership and usage of PA trackers (apps and HRM/SW) among adolescents in a national representative sample and to examine the association between use of devices and PA levels. MethodsThe Finnish school-aged physical activity (SPA) study consisted of 4575 adolescents, aged 11-, 13-, and 15-years, who took part in a web-based questionnaire during school time about PA behaviors between April and May 2016. Binary logistic regression analyses were used to test the associations between moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and devices, after controlling for gender, age, disability, and family affluence. ResultsPA tracking devices have been categorized into two types, which are accessible to adolescents: (1) apps and (2) HRM/SW. Half the adolescents (2351/4467; 52.63%) own apps for monitoring PA, yet 16.12% (720/4467) report using apps. Fewer adolescents (782/4413; 17.72%) own HRM/SW and 9.25% (408/4413) use HRM/SW. In this study, users of HRM/SW were 2.09 times (95% CI 1.64-2.67), whereas users of apps were 1.4 times (95% CI 1.15-1.74) more likely to meet PA recommendations of daily MVPA for at least 60 min compared with adolescents without HRM/SW or without apps. ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this is the first study that describes the situation in Finland with adolescents using PA trackers and its association with PA levels. Implications of the use of apps and HRM/SW by adolescents are discussed.

This paper explores the efficacy and value of sports clubs as a setting for health promotion. Sports clubs for children and adolescents are the primary focus of the paper, and the aims are two-fold. Aims: Firstly, the paper aims to review the basis for and elements of the health promoting sports club (HPSC) concept. Secondly, the aim is to overview the international evolution of the HPSC concept and its usefulness in the research. The settings-based health promotion approach forms the basis for the HPSC concept and it is introduced first. Thereafter, both obligating and prospecting factors, to justify the importance for sports clubs to address health promotion, are expressed. Major prospecting factors relate to the facts that sports club activities reach a lot of children and adolescents, and that its educational nature is informal due to voluntary participation. The paper also presents multilevel structure of sports clubs, as well as the determinants affecting the settings-based work. The research concerning health promotion in sports-related settings is evolving worldwide, and Nordic countries are in the front line of this new-wave of settings-based health promotion. Indeed, it has been claimed that, for the settings approach to assimilate to current societal challenges, there is a need to widen the reach of the approach to non-traditional, non-institutional settings, like sports clubs.

The settings approach to health promotion is a world-known concept concerning settings like city, hospital, school, and workplace. The concept has also been used in some regionally specific settings, such as island, prison, or university. However, there are still many, often noninstitutional, settings that have a lot of potential but have not yet been recognized. One of the newcomers is the youth sports club, which has the potential to reach a lot of children and adolescents and is effective, via its casual educational nature based on voluntary participation. According to research, health is an important aim for most youth sports clubs, but it has not been converted into practical actions. Indeed, the clubs often recognize the importance of healthy lifestyles, but there is a lack of understanding of what to do to reinforce it within one’s activities. That is why, on the basis of the results of the Health Promoting Sports Club survey in Finland, guidelines for clubs to enhance health promotion as a part of their activities were created. The aim of this article is to present the guidelines, theirs rationale, and practical examples.

Aims: To investigate the associations between physical activity and the pattern of risk health behaviour consisting of smoking, alcohol consumption, snuff (snus), cannabis, and condom use among 15-year-old adolescents, taking their educational aspirations and family affluence into account. Methods: The data were collected in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study in Finland in 2006. Standardised questionnaires were issued at schools to a 15-year-old nationally representative sample, of which 84.5% (1710 pupils) participated. Logistic regression analysis was used to explore the associations between physical activity, pattern of risk health behaviour, family affluence, and educational aspirations. Separate models for daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) were tested. Multi-level analysis was performed in order to control the nested characteristics of the data. Results: Boys were significantly more physically active and used alcohol, cannabis, and snuff more often than girls. Girls had used a condom in their last intercourse less often than boys. The educational aspirations for higher education had the strongest association with the low-risk health behaviour, with the odds ratios in the MVPA model 3.30 (95% CI 2.41–4.55) for the boys and 3.46 (95% CI 2.56–4.67) for the girls. In the LTPA model, the corresponding odds ratios were 3.31 (95% CI 2.40–4.56) for the boys and 3.52 (95% CI 2.60–4.56) for the girls. Conclusions: Physical activity was not significantly associated with the low-risk health behaviour, whereas educational aspirations for higher education showed the strongest association. The results support the earlier studies indicating a social gradient in health-related behaviour already in adolescence.