Tackling physical inactivity through sport

Mini-Oral Presentation A3.22

Abstract

Background: Physical activity and sport participation are essential to improving and maintaining the health and wellbeing of inactive individuals and communities within society, particularly minority groups who are the most critically inactive. However, embedded evaluations to appraise the impact of physical activity interventions are scarce. Sport Australia’s $150mill “Move It AUS Program” funded initiatives specifically catered to overcoming barriers to participation for physically inactive people. The evaluation aimed to objectively determine what worked, and what didn’t, in tackling physical inactivity through the “Move It AUS” funded sport programs in Australia. Methods: The evaluation adopted a pragmatic, mixed method approach involving standardised pre and post quantitative surveys for program participants (n=3,837), and thematically analysed qualitative interviews with program staff. Results: The program successfully reached priority target groups, with 75% of participants physically inactive and significant representation of Indigenous communities (5%), culturally and linguistically diverse groups (11%), and rural and remote locations (32%). 38% of respondents lived in most disadvantaged communities. Participation in Move it AUS program increased the proportion of participants meeting PA guidelines for their age from 25% to 27%. Findings from 26 qualitative interviews were synthesised into seven key insights, namely; 1) Clarity of ‘who’ you’re targeting; 2) Partnerships for knowledge or resources; 3) Modifying internal and external communication from “performance” to “participation”; 4) Flexible program design; 5) Impact of COVID-19 modifications on reach and retention; 6) How federal governing body support provides legitimacy to participation strategies; 7) Understanding that physical inactivity is a priority across the sport ecosystem. Conclusions: Creating physical activity and sport interventions specifically targeting physically inactive communities is a key priority to Australian government. These data were the first to understanding what worked and what needs improvement within Australian sport sector to improve reach, engagement, and effectiveness of programs. These novel findings contribute to a fundamental base of knowledge supporting approaches to enable more people to achieve physical activity through targeted sport and physical activity interventions.