Results of Irish HPSC-NAT data collection
The HPSC-NAT was used in Ireland to analyse the current state of policies development to support sports club’s health promotion investment. To document HPSC-NAT, two methods have been used: a systematic search of policy documents on gov.ie website and 11 interviews with administrations (sport and health department, National Governing Bodies, Local Sport Partnership and academia).
The main results are summarized as the lack of recognition of sports clubs to promote health despite 17 policies identified, targeting mostly physical activity participation, the lack of coordination and monitoring for HPSC, and huge variation in the way sports clubs are called in policies.
Searching process
- Different national strategies mention schools, workplace as “settings”, where sports clubs could also be recognised as such but not mentioned this way (e.g. Smarter travel policy)
- Different national and local strategy talk about community-based organisation, without including sport clubs in their description
Policy documents
- 49 policy action from 17 policy documents
- actions at local level from 3 policies
Health Promotion
- Only 4 actions focusing on health promotion in a holistic way
- Others focusing on health topics with 13 focusing on physical activity (PA) participation, 8 on gender, 8 on disabilities, 3 on suicide prevention, 3 on inequalities
Department implicated
- Policies from health, sport, education, youth, justice and rural department
- 32 actions are intersectoral, implicating other departments
Mention of sports clubs
- Huge variation in how to mention organised sport, from clubs, to sport clubs, to sport organisation, to sport, limiting the identification of single structure
Presence of national coordination
- No national committee/leadership group to foster health promotion in sport
Surveillance and monitoring system
- No monitoring or surveillance of sports clubs health promotion
Program
- GAA healthy club project funded and supported through policies, but no opportunity for other sport discipline to be implicated so far.
Local level implementation
- Local Sport Partnerships are acknowledged as key actors supporting sports clubs, and representing sport at local level, where their main mission is promoting PA.
