Junior parkrun pilot in Australia: A real world evaluation.

Mathieu, E; Grunseit, AC; Foley, BC; Reece, LJ

Junior parkrun pilot in Australia: A real world evaluation.

Mathieu, E Grunseit, AC Foley, BC Reece, LJ

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Publisher:: WILEY
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Health Promot J Austr, 2023
Issue Date:: 2023-09-28

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Mathieu, E
dc.contributor.author	Grunseit, AC
dc.contributor.author	Foley, BC
dc.contributor.author	Reece, LJ
dc.date.accessioned	2023-11-03T00:28:45Z
dc.date.available	2023-09-18
dc.date.available	2023-11-03T00:28:45Z
dc.date.issued	2023-09-28
dc.identifier.citation	Health Promot J Austr, 2023
dc.identifier.issn	1036-1073
dc.identifier.issn	2201-1617
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/172960
dc.description.abstract	ISSUE ADDRESSED: Regular physical activity is important for children's health. Parkrun supports communities to deliver free, weekly, 5 km events in 22 countries around the world and is the largest physical activity model delivered at scale in the world. Junior parkrun aims to encourage children aged 4-14 years to be active outdoors through providing safe, cost-free and non-competitive weekly timed walk, run or jog over a 2-km distance. The aim of this study is to evaluate the junior parkrun pilot in Australia. METHODS: A process evaluation was conducted using routinely collected data of junior parkrun participants, as well as a self-completed questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 1827 children had registered and participated in at least one junior parkrun over the course of the pilot period. Participants had, on average, attended 10% of the junior parkrun events including and subsequent to their first participation by the end of the study period. Majority of parents (61%) said that junior parkrun had increased their child's physical activity either a little or a lot, and most agreed or strongly agreed that junior parkrun was fun (90%), enjoyable (91%), energising (85%) and challenging (70%). CONCLUSION: The junior parkrun pilot appears to show promise in Australia for enabling children to engage in physical activity, in their local communities in a fun and inclusive way. SO WHAT: Parkrun junior can co-exist with other organised sports programs; however, it can also specifically target those not participating in any sports, given the high levels of enjoyment in a non-competitive, non-team environment.
dc.format	Print-Electronic
dc.language	eng
dc.publisher	WILEY
dc.relation.ispartof	Health Promot J Austr
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1002/hpja.812
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess
dc.rights	This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. © 2023 The Authors. Health Promotion Journal of Australia published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australian Health Promotion Association.
dc.subject	1117 Public Health and Health Services
dc.subject.classification	Public Health
dc.subject.classification	3210 Nutrition and dietetics
dc.subject.classification	4203 Health services and systems
dc.subject.classification	4206 Public health
dc.title	Junior parkrun pilot in Australia: A real world evaluation.
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.location.activity	Australia
utslib.for	1117 Public Health and Health Services
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Health/Public Health
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
dc.date.updated	2023-11-03T00:28:43Z
pubs.publication-status	Published online

Abstract:

ISSUE ADDRESSED: Regular physical activity is important for children's health. Parkrun supports communities to deliver free, weekly, 5 km events in 22 countries around the world and is the largest physical activity model delivered at scale in the world. Junior parkrun aims to encourage children aged 4-14 years to be active outdoors through providing safe, cost-free and non-competitive weekly timed walk, run or jog over a 2-km distance. The aim of this study is to evaluate the junior parkrun pilot in Australia. METHODS: A process evaluation was conducted using routinely collected data of junior parkrun participants, as well as a self-completed questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 1827 children had registered and participated in at least one junior parkrun over the course of the pilot period. Participants had, on average, attended 10% of the junior parkrun events including and subsequent to their first participation by the end of the study period. Majority of parents (61%) said that junior parkrun had increased their child's physical activity either a little or a lot, and most agreed or strongly agreed that junior parkrun was fun (90%), enjoyable (91%), energising (85%) and challenging (70%). CONCLUSION: The junior parkrun pilot appears to show promise in Australia for enabling children to engage in physical activity, in their local communities in a fun and inclusive way. SO WHAT: Parkrun junior can co-exist with other organised sports programs; however, it can also specifically target those not participating in any sports, given the high levels of enjoyment in a non-competitive, non-team environment.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/172960