A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

Meeting abstrac

The Contribution of Sports Clubs to Public Welfare in European Societies. A Cross-National Comparative Perspective

This chapter presents the results from a cross-national comparative analysis of European sports clubs’ contribution to public welfare and offers potential explanations for the similarities and differences identified. The analysis reveals how sports clubs make a significant contribution to public welfare with regard to the four functions examined: health promotion, social integration, democracy and voluntary work. However, the contribution of sports clubs to these functions can mainly be understood as side effects to the activities offered by clubs. Sports clubs’ contribution to public welfare is in many respects relatively similar, but the analysis also identifies significant differences between countries. Potential explanations for the similarities and differences identified are examined at different levels of analysis. At the macro-level (societal level), explanations pertaining to the historical origin and political opportunity structure for sports clubs are discussed. At the meso-level (sports club level), potential explanations regarding the constitutive elements and typical features, the organisational capacity as well as the structural characteristics of sports clubs are discussed. At the micro-level (member level), potential explanations pertaining to the social background as well as motivation and engagement of members are discussed. The chapter ends with five awareness points to enhance sports clubs’ contribution to public welfare

Democratic Participation in Voluntary Associations: A Multilevel Analysis of Sports Clubs in Europe

Non-profit associations are usually democratically organized, and this feature plays a legitimizing role for the public support to associations. This article examines which characteristics at country level, organizational level and individual level can explain variations with regard to member engagement in the association democracy in sports clubs in Europe. The statistical analyses use data on 12,755 members from 642 sports clubs in ten European countries. The findings show that the majority of the members in sports clubs participate in the association democracy, but the level and form of engagement varies considerably. At the country level, no link between the democratic strength and quality of the countries on the one hand and member engagement on the other could be identified. Instead, characteristics at the organizational and individual level were found to be relevant. More concretely, (1) the size of the sports club, (2) the socioeconomic background of the members (gender, age and education), and (3) the way in which the members are involved in and affiliated to the club (engaged in voluntary work, participating in social activities, etc.) were found to be significantly correlated with the engagement of members in the association democracy