Gender inclusive sporting environments: the proportion of women in non-player roles over recent years.

BACKGROUND: Throughout the ecosystem of sport, women have been and continue to be underrepresented at all levels compared to men. The capacity of community-level sport is heavily reliant on the many non-player roles including governance, as well as administration, coaching and officiating. Recently there has been increased attention to improving the gender balance in sport. The aim of this study is to investigate the proportions of women engaged in non-playing roles in sport (2016-2018). METHODS: This study involved secondary analysis of the AusPlay survey, a national population survey, funded by Sport Australia. This study utilised data from people aged 15-years or older about their involvement in non-playing roles in sport, and their demographic data. Survey respondents were asked "During the last 12 months, have you been involved with any sports in a nonplaying role, such as official, coach, referee, administrator, etc?" Analysis of non-player role responses focussed specifically on the top four non-player role categories; coach, official, administrator and manager. Frequency analysis concentrated on the distribution of men and women involvement in a non-player capacity for the three years, with detailed analysis of the most recent year (2018). RESULTS: In this study of 61,578 Australians there was a higher proportion of men in non-player roles in sport compared to women, across each of the three years (2018: men 55 %, women 46 %). Involvement of women in coaching increased significantly from 38 % to 2016 to 44 % in 2018 (p < 0.001). The proportion of women involved in administration roles significantly decreased from a peak of 51 % in 2017 to 46 % in 2018 (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Aligned with strategic policy and investment strategies, there are gradual increased representation of women in non-playing sport, coaching roles. Women are still underrepresented in terms of coaches, officials and administrators, but are more likely to be managers. It is recommended that there is continued mentoring, identification and emphasising of female role models, and further strategies to increase female presence in non-playing roles. We recommend that future research, in line with appropriate gender and cultural-change theories, investigates and discusses the progress of gender equality throughout playing and non-playing role in sport.

Reducing financial barriers through the implementation of voucher incentives to promote children's participation in community sport in Australia.

BACKGROUND: Participation in organised sport and physical activity contributes to health-enhancing levels of leisure time physical activity. In Australia, 58% of children aged 0-14 years participated at least once a week in October 2015 - December 2017. To overcome the frequently cited cost barrier, sports voucher incentives have been widely implemented across Australia. METHOD: The financial value of jurisdictional vouchers and the National median financial value were used to calculate the proportion of total annual expenditure on children's participation in sport supported by sports vouchers. Participation rates using AusPlay data were estimated by age, sex and socio-economic index (SEIFA) at state and national level for children aged 0-14 years. RESULTS: Five States and Territories implemented sports vouchers from 2011 to 2018, with a median value of AU$150. Nationally, median annual expenditure for children's sport participation was AU$447 (IQR $194.2-936), with 27% reported expenditure supported by a sports voucher. The proportion of financial support from sports vouchers increased considerably with social disadvantage, rising to over 60% of total expenditure in the most disadvantaged populations. CONCLUSIONS: Socio-economic status was associated with sports-related expenditure and sports participation amongst children. Sport vouchers should target children in the most disadvantaged areas to promote participation in organised sport and physical activity.

Evaluation of a peer education program on student leaders' energy balance-related behaviors.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have reported energy balance-related behavior (EBRB) change for peer leaders delivering health promotion programs to younger students in secondary schools. Our study assessed the impact of the Students As LifeStyle Activists (SALSA) program on SALSA peer leaders' EBRBs, and their intentions regarding these behaviors. METHODS: We used a pre-post study design to assess changes in EBRBs and intentions of Year 10 secondary school students (15-16 year olds) who volunteered to be peer leaders to deliver the SALSA program to Year 8 students (13-14 year olds). This research is part of a larger study conducted during 2014 and 2015 in 23 secondary schools in Sydney, Australia. We used an online questionnaire before and after program participation to assess Year 10 peer leaders' fruit and vegetable intake, daily breakfast eating, sugar sweetened beverage (SSB) intake, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) participation and school-day recreational screen time behaviors and intentions regarding these EBRBs. Generalized estimating equations with a robust variance structure and exchangeable correlation structure were used to estimate the individual-level summary statistics and their 95% CIs, adjusted for clustering. We further assessed the effect of covariates on EBRB changes. RESULTS: There were significant increases in the proportion of Year 10 peer leaders (n = 415) who reported eating ≥2 serves fruit/day fruit from 54 to 63% (P < 0.01); eating ≥5 serves vegetables/day from 8 to 12% (P < 0.01); and drinking <1 cup/day of SSBs from 56 to 62% (P < 0.01). Change in ≥60 min MVPA participation/day depended on gender (P < 0.01): Boys increased 14% while girls decreased -2%. Changes in eating breakfast daily also depended on gender (P < 0.004): Boys increased 13% while girls decreased -0.4%. The change in peer leaders recreational screen time differed by socio-economic status (P < 0.05): above average communities decreased by -2.9% while below average communities increased 6.0%. Significant shifts were seen in peer leaders' intentions, except MVPA which remained stable. CONCLUSIONS: The SALSA program had a positive impact on peer leaders' EBRBs, with gender and socio-economic status moderating some outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN12617000712303 retrospectively registered.