Rethinking the Vulnerability of Groups Targeted in Health-Promoting Sports and Physical Activity Programs

Vulnerability and related terms are increasingly used to describe the target groups of health-promoting programs involving sports and physical activity. Yet, such terms are often left undefined, creating an image of vulnerability that reinforces the health inequities the programs seek to counter. This article aims to reconceptualize vulnerability to help researchers and program personnel describe and support individuals and groups in vulnerable positions. To do so, we conceptualize vulnerability as a contentious phenomenon, emphasizing the spectrum between individual and community perspectives on vulnerability, along with between experts’ evaluation of (health) risks and lived vulnerability. We illustrate the utility of this elaborate conceptualization of vulnerability through a single case study of a walking program organized by a health promotion unit in a so-called deprived area in Denmark. Interviewing the health professionals, it was not surprising to identify that experts’ evaluations of risks are key to the program. However, employing the conceptual framework in its entirety, we also find indications of lived vulnerability and resistance towards their conditions among the program participants. We conclude that it is relevant for both researchers and program employees to consider the complete spectrum of risks and lived vulnerabilities, along with providing support not only to individuals in need but also to their communities

Forord

Forordet indleder Idrætshistorisk Arbog 2007

Fra forsamlingshuset over idrætshallen til multiaktivitetshuset

Analyse af tre bygninger i Vest- og Østjylland som billeder på den idrætshistoriske udvikling.From village hall to sports hall to multi-sports centre In this article, three sports facilities are depicted in order to gain insight into the development of the popular gymnastics and sports movement in Denmark. The author compares the history and present use of a village hall (built in 1891 and rebuilt in 1927), a sports hall (built in 1966), and a multi-sports centre (built in 2003). Using Tim Ingold’s concept of ‘taskscape’, the author shows the way in which those who live in a specific landscape incorporate the history of the building into their pattern of activities. It is argued that the popular gymnastics and sports movement has developed with different views of the population as a group. The formation of the population as a political unity (demos) is expressed in the creation of village halls. The further development of village halls and sports halls through the 20th century with their complex pattern of activities shows a development of the people as a cultural ethnos. Finally, the coaching of specific groups and individuals in the multi-sports centre points to a new development o

Forord

Forordet indleder Idrætshistorisk Arbog 2007

Fra forsamlingshuset over idrætshallen til multiaktivitetshuset

Analyse af tre bygninger i Vest- og Østjylland som billeder på den idrætshistoriske udvikling.From village hall to sports hall to multi-sports centre In this article, three sports facilities are depicted in order to gain insight into the development of the popular gymnastics and sports movement in Denmark. The author compares the history and present use of a village hall (built in 1891 and rebuilt in 1927), a sports hall (built in 1966), and a multi-sports centre (built in 2003). Using Tim Ingold’s concept of ‘taskscape’, the author shows the way in which those who live in a specific landscape incorporate the history of the building into their pattern of activities. It is argued that the popular gymnastics and sports movement has developed with different views of the population as a group. The formation of the population as a political unity (demos) is expressed in the creation of village halls. The further development of village halls and sports halls through the 20th century with their complex pattern of activities shows a development of the people as a cultural ethnos. Finally, the coaching of specific groups and individuals in the multi-sports centre points to a new development o

Children’s Rights to and in Sport:A Comparative Analysis of Organizational Policies in the Scandinavian Countries

It has long been stated that children have the rights to protection from, e.g., abuse and to the provision of age-appropriate leisure, play, and recreational activities along with participation in all matters that concerns them. Yet, the full range of children’s rights to and in sport has not yet been explored in detail. To do so, it is relevant to turn to the Scandinavian countries, which are praised for promoting children’s rights and well-being, with organized sport forming part of the daily lives of many children and youths. In this paper, we examine the organizational policies in Scandinavian sport in order to develop foundational knowledge about how the range of children’s rights to and in sport may be supported. Comparing key policy documents of the major sports confederations in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, these analyses identify great variety in the following: 1. when and how children’s rights to and in sport have been made explicit in the three countries; 2. whether the emphasis is on protection and/or provision of sport to children and youths or their participation in shaping sporting activities; 3. the degree to and ways in which such rights are regulated. In sum, our findings reflect a disparity between organizational policies in the three countries, with a more liberal and individualistic approach to public policy in the Danish context, providing some explanation of the only recent development in and scattered enaction of regulations to support children’s rights to and in sports. Furthermore, we identify that political attention has mainly been drawn to the protection and provision of sports to children and youths, while their participation in shaping sport is a shared challenge for sport confederations in the Scandinavian countries and beyond

Sustaining Equality and Equity. A Scoping Review of Interventions Directed towards Promoting Access to Leisure Time Physical Activity for Children and Youth

Promoting access to leisure time physical activity (LTPA) opportunities for children and youth is crucial to promote public health. Yet, ensuring sustainable interventions in this field requires theoretically informed approaches to guide the processes of developing, implementing and evaluating LTPA programs. The objective of this review was to examine how concepts of equality and equity have been operationalized in LTPA interventions for children and youth in order to identify facilitating factors and barriers to LTPA access connected to such concepts. Using a pre-piloted search strategy, three electronic databases were searched for studies of interventions aiming to promote access to LTPA in organized or community sport for children and youth. Following a screening process, 27 publications representing 25 unique interventions were included. Through careful examination of the aim and target group of each intervention, they emerged in three categories in accordance with their (implicit) understandings of equality and equity. Also, considering the processes through which the interventions within each category had been implemented leads to the conclusion that an explicit theoretical understanding of the aim of interventions will increase communal knowledge among intervention stakeholders about which facilitating factors to pursue and barriers to bypass to contribute to more socially sustainable LTPA programs