Policy interventions implemented through sporting organisations to promote healthy behaviour change

Sporting organisations provide an important setting for health promoting policies to create health promoting environments and to support health-oriented behaviour change. The introduction of policy interventions within sporting organisations is one strategy to target high risk behaviours such as smoking, alcohol consumption, excess sun exposure, unhealthy eating and discrimination, as those who access sport settings have been shown to have elevated risk behaviours. We found no controlled studies evaluating the effectiveness of policy interventions implemented in sporting settings to promote healthy behaviour. The study designs employed in evaluations of these policies typically have been case studies, thereby limiting our understanding of the effectiveness of such health promoting strategies.