Family-based HEPA approach in the school & sport club context: development of a module in the ‘Sport Physical Education and Coaching for Health (SPEACH) project

The ‘Sport Physical Education and Coaching for Health (SPEACH) project, co-financed by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union (2015-2017) aims to increase awareness and behavioral change in sport professionals and European citizens towards an active and healthy lifestyle. The target is to develop and test Health Enhancing Physical Activities or HEPA modules that can be integrated in Physical Education Training Education structures and Sport Coaching courses. The different steps in this EU project are: (1) needs analyses among students (survey, interviews, focus groups), (2) development of most relevant HEPA modules based on the needs analysis results, (3) teach-the-teacher course (4) testing of 3 selected HEPA modules in a real-life setting with physical education and sport coaching students (n=60, from 8 countries) and teachers (n=12, from 7 countries), (5) sustainability of the project results, coordinated by the European Network of Sport Education (ENSE). The project is in its last phase (step 6). The titles of the three field-tested modules are (a) Development of a family-based HEPA project in the school & sport club context, (b) Promoting health enhancing physical activity among children and youth, and (c) Designing educational sport environments for children with special needs. The presentation will illustrate how the module on family-based HEPA was build up in content and didactical approach. The students were given the task to work out a health promotion project together with local sport clubs, school(s) and other local organizations. The goal of the intervention was to enhance (and maintain) health with children and make sure that parents are aware of possibilities to integrate PA in daily life for their children and themselves. A stepwise approach in small students groups was worked out concentrating on the themes: insight in stakeholders and their role in health promotion, behavior change theories, motivational interviewing and intervention mapping protocol. Advices for implementation on different educational levels (vocational, bachelor and master) and usefulness at national and international educational contexts will be given for the family-based module and for the project in general. Acknowledgements: this project is co-finance by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, 557083-EPP-1-2014-1-NL-SPO-SCP) Keywords: health policy, family-based intervention, school and sport club context, teacher training, sport coaching courses,