A Scoping Review of Sport-Based Health Promotion Interventions With Youth in Africa

Preliminary effects of a rural skin cancer prevention intervention for youths

OBJECTIVES

To pilot and assess the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of the Rural Adult and Youth Sun (RAYS) protection program, a multilevel skin cancer preventive intervention for young children living in rural U.S. communities, delivered through community-organized team sports.

METHOD

Three rural counties in Utah participated with two receiving the intervention and the third serving as a control. Youth sports leagues were recruited through recreation departments and the study took place from May through October 2021. Intervention leagues received sun protection supplies for players and coaches, educational materials for parents, and coaches were offered training on skin cancer and sun protection behaviors.

RESULTS

The RAYS program is both feasible to deliver and acceptable to coaches, parents, and players. The intervention also demonstrates beneficial preliminary effects on components of observed child sun-protective behaviors, coach sun protection behaviors, knowledge of skin cancer prevention recommendations, and self-efficacy in skin cancer prevention.

CONCLUSIONS

Multilevel interventions for skin cancer prevention among young children can be successfully delivered through community organizations and their settings. A priority moving forward is the identification of ways to optimize delivery of such programs to positively influence skin cancer preventive behaviors among children living in diverse rural areas. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Learning Football for Good: The Development and Evaluation of the Football3 MOOC

Over the last two decades, sport has become a recognised tool to achieve sustainable development outcomes. Known as sport for development (SFD), this approach can broadly be defined as the intentional use of sport to achieve development objectives. Many SFD organisations implement methods that seek to achieve developmental goals by reorienting sport away from its competitive aspects and encouraging participation, fair play and communication. Of these methods, football3 is arguably the most widespread. Despite its popularity, there remain challenges in its implementation. As a result, there have been numerous calls to develop educational materials and opportunities around football3. In response, the football3 for all project led to the development and launch of a freely accessible, Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). However, there is still little knowledge about how online learning approaches are used in SFD, how they accommodate the practical and social nature of SFD, and whether they optimise student learning. Using findings from feedback surveys and focus group discussions, we present results from the development and evaluation of the football3 MOOC. The findings suggest a high level of satisfaction with the course, but also a need for practical tools and exchange to improve delivery on the pitch.

Critical Social Science in Sport Management Research: A Scoping Review

Sport management scholars have called for the application of broader research approaches, including critical social science. Such approaches help uncover the less-desirable aspects of sport and, therefore, offer a basis for positive change. While there have been advancements in the use of innovative research approaches over time, there remains little understanding of how these calls have been addressed. The purpose of this scoping review is to examine trends, gaps, and the use of critical social science and associated approaches in sport management scholarship. Two hundred sixteen relevant articles were identified through a database search (i.e., five platforms), complemented with a manual search of 419 journals. Results indicate that an increase in critical research published in sport management journals was evident following 2005. Findings suggest that there remains space for increased publication of critical social science work in sport management journals and for researchers to better articulate their research approaches in scholarly outputs.

ImmunizziAMO: A School-Based Field Trial to Teach New Generations the Importance of Vaccination through Games and to Fight Vaccine Hesitancy in Italy

BACKGROUND

Vaccines simulate the first contact with infectious agents and evoke the immunological response without causing the disease and its complications. High rates of immunization among the population guarantee the interruption of the transmission chain of infectious diseases. Therefore, the population should be aware of the value of vaccination and motivated. In order to implement the spread of a correct culture about these issues, schools were recognized as a privileged operational setting. The aim of this project was to transmit knowledge and convey educational messages on the importance of vaccines, through the use of games, in elementary school children, their families and teachers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A field trial study was implemented between April and October 2019. Sample size calculations highlighted the need to recruit at least 136 students in the schools. The intervention involved 10 classes (five first grade and five s grade classes) and was structured in frontal teaching sessions and gaming sessions. Knowledge was assessed comparing the results of a questionnaire administered before and after the intervention. The questionnaires referred to the following items: dangerousness of bacteria and viruses; capability of defending from microorganisms; the role of antibodies; functioning of the vaccine in a child; type of disease for which a vaccine is efficacious; duration of a vaccine; mother- child transmission of antibodies; herd immunity.

RESULTS

143 children participated in all the phases of the study. The comparison between the scores at the beginning and end of the intervention showed a significant increase in the knowledge about vaccines and immunity. The mean knowledge score arose from 3.52 (SD = 1.67) to 5.97 (SD = 1.81).

CONCLUSIONS

This study suggests that the use of games in an elementary school effectively increase the knowledge related to the important topic of vaccination starting at childhood.