Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 May 12;10(5):872.
doi: 10.3390/children10050872.

Acquiring Financial Support for Children's Sports Participation: Co-Creating a Socially Safe Environment for Parents from Low-Income Families

Lonneke van Leeuwen  1 , Angelique Ruiter  2 , Kirsten Visser  3 , Heidi M B Lesscher  4 , Merel Jonker  5
Affiliations

Acquiring Financial Support for Children's Sports Participation: Co-Creating a Socially Safe Environment for Parents from Low-Income Families

Lonneke van Leeuwen et al. Children (Basel). .

Abstract

Despite the many benefits of club-organized sports participation for children, sports participation is lower among children from low-income families than among those from middle- or high-income families. Social safety experienced by parents from low-income families is an important facilitator for parents to request financial support for their children's sports participation. Therefore, the first aim of this study was to better understand parental social (un)safety in the context of acquiring financial support for children's sports participation and how to create a safe social environment for low-income parents to request and receive this financial support. The second aim was to describe the co-creation process, which was organized to contribute to social safety solutions. To reach these goals, we applied a participatory action research method in the form of four co-creation sessions with professionals and an expert-by-experience, as well as a group interview with parents from low-income families. The data analysis included a thematic analysis of the qualitative data. The results showed that from the perspective of parents, social safety encompassed various aspects such as understandable information, procedures based on trust, and efficient referral processes. Sport clubs were identified as the primary source of information for parents. Regarding the co-creation process, the study found that stakeholders tended to overestimate parental social safety levels. Although the stakeholders enjoyed and learned from the sessions, differences in prior knowledge and a lack of a shared perspective on the purpose of the sessions made it challenging to collaboratively create solutions. The study's recommendations include strategies for increasing parental social safety and facilitating more effective co-creation processes. The findings of this study can be used to inform the development of interventions that contribute to a social environment in which parents from low-income families feel safe to request and receive financial support for their children's sports participation.

Keywords: children; club-organized sports; co-creation; low-income; parents; social safety.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The sponsors had no role in the design, execution, interpretation, or writing of the study.

References

    1. Patterson M.S., Amuta A.O., McKyer E., McWhinney S.L., Outley C.W., Tisone C.A. The physical activity environment among rural, low-income children. Health Behav. Policy Rev. 2015;2:461–469. doi: 10.14485/HBPR.2.6.6. - DOI
    1. World Health Organization . Information Sheet: Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health 5–17-Year Olds. World Health Organization; Geneva, Switzerland: 2011.
    1. Eime R.M., Young J.A., Harvey J.T., Charity M.J., Payne W.R. A systematic review of the psychological and social benefits of participation in sport for children and adolescents: Informing development of a conceptual model of health through sport. Int. J. Behav. Nutr. Phys. Act. 2013;10:98. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-10-98. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Vandermeerschen H., Vos S., Scheerder J. Who’s joining the club? Participation of socially vulnerable children and adolescents in club-organised sports. Sport Educ. Soc. 2013;20:941–958. doi: 10.1080/13573322.2013.856293. - DOI
    1. Larocca V., Wilson S., Cavaliere A. Examining the association between parent and child sport participation in Canada: A general social survey study. Can. J. Fam. Youth. 2018;10:171–190. doi: 10.29173/cjfy29347. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources