Social cohesion through football: a quasi-experimental mixed methods design to evaluate a complex health promotion program

Abstract

Social isolation and disengagement fragments local communities. Evidence indicates that refugee families are highly vulnerable to social isolation in their countries of resettlement. Research to identify approaches to best address this is needed. Football United is a program that aims to foster social inclusion and cohesion in areas with high refugee settlement in New South Wales, Australia, through skills and leadership development, mentoring, and the creation of links with local community and corporate leaders and organisations. The Social Cohesion through Football study's broad goal is to examine the implementation of a complex health promotion program, and to analyse the processes involved in program implementation. The study will consider program impact on individual health and wellbeing, social inclusion and cohesion, as well as analyse how the program by necessity interacts and adapts to context during implementation, a concept we refer to as plasticity. The proposed study will be the first prospective cohort impact study to our knowledge to assess the impact of a comprehensive integrated program using football as a vehicle for fostering social inclusion and cohesion in communities with high refugee settlement.Methods/designA quasi-experimental cohort study design with treatment partitioning involving four study sites. The study employs a 'dose response' model, comparing those with no involvement in the Football United program with those with lower or higher levels of participation. A range of qualitative and quantitative measures will be used in the study. Study participants' emotional well being, resilience, ethnic identity and other group orientation, feelings of social inclusion and belonging will be measured using a survey instrument complemented by relevant data drawn from in-depth interviews, self reporting measures and participant observation. The views of key informants from the program and the wider community will also be solicited.DiscussionThe complexity of the Football United program poses challenges for measurement, and requires the study design to be responsive to the dynamic nature of the program and context. Assessment of change is needed at multiple levels, drawing on mixed methods and multidisciplinary approaches in implementation and evaluation. Attention to these challenges has underpinned the design and methods in the Social Cohesion through Football study, which will use a unique and innovative combination of measures that have not been applied together previously in social inclusion/cohesion and sport and social inclusion/cohesion program research.

Being Able to Play: Experiences of Social Inclusion and Exclusion Within a Football Team of People Seeking Asylum

“…There is no denying that sport in Australia is a "key site of culture production and social prestige" (Spaaij, 2015, p. 303) and some research demonstrates that sports programmes aimed at newly arrived populations can be important platforms for social capital, identity building, feelings of belonging, leadership and pro-social behaviour to occur (see Centre for Multicultural Youth Issues, 2007;Nathan et al, 2010Nathan et al, , 2013Palmer, 2009;Spaaij, 2012Spaaij, , 2015. However, whilst the rhetoric about the power of sport to act as a vehicle for social inclusion is strong, the evidence is largely anecdotal and there is often a conflict between policy and practice Northcote & Casimiro, 2009;Spaaij, 2013).…”

Coesão de grupo e liderança do treinador em função do nível competitivo das equipes: um estudo no contexto do futsal paranaense.

“…Dessa forma, a literatura assinala que o envolvimento individual do atleta com a coesão social da equipe também é um fator importante para o sucesso esportivo 5,13 , uma vez que a coesão social também favorece a melhora do desempenho esportivo, além de incentivar o atleta a continuar na equipe nas temporadas seguintes 25 . No entanto, a coesão social de uma equipe não pode ser muito mais alta que a coesão para a tarefa, uma vez que o excesso de envolvimento social entre os atletas pode diminuir o foco em relação aos objetivos e às metas do grupo 26 .…”

Sport for development (S4D) as ‘core university business’? Modelling university participation in sport-based social development

“…The project aimed to build on the existing strength of FUn in other regions (Nathan et al, 2010) to explore avenues for meaningful engagement of universities and communities through sport in SA. It aimed to implement locally responsive sport-based community interventions in areas with high proportions of refugee, CALD and low SES households.…”

“…It encompasses themes spanning from the physical to the mental as well as community health outcomes (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2006; Carless & Douglas, 2010;Coalter, Allison, & Taylor, 2000). Key themes include the relevance of sport to social capital (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2009;Nicholson & Hoye, 2008), social inclusion (Waring & Mason, 2010), community cohesion (Nathan et al, 2010) and community development (Vail, 2007). The underlying message is that the active lifestyle and social interaction that can be leveraged from participation in sport can be used as vehicles to build bridges among individuals and communities, as well as promoting public health, education and broader social engagement messages.…”

“…FUn uses football (soccer) to promote health and well-being and to foster social inclusion in areas with significant proportions of refugee, low SES, culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and Indigenous households (Nathan et al, 2010). FUn was developed by the University of New South Wales in the mid-2000s with the belief that sport is an effective vehicle for a range of individual and communal health, social and socio-economic benefits and the recognition of common barriers to participation that often place disadvantaged people at high risk of exclusion.…”