Integrating health and wellbeing into sporting partnerships is critical but challenging. Nationally, there is growing public concern regarding the presence of unhealthy brands promoted within sporting contexts. This counteracts the positive influence sport can have on community health. Many sport organisations struggle to balance sponsorship and community health objectives, often prioritising financial incentives over health outcomes.

Healthway works in partnership with sport organisations to create healthy environments and provide education to promote health and wellbeing outcomes across WA. Values aligned partnerships benefit sporting associations, their partners and allow communities to thrive. Healthway has developed and implemented two key policies to support sporting organisations to increase partnerships that support community health. The Co-Supporters Policy aims to reduce the promotion of unhealthy brands and minimise the risk that Healthway’s objectives will be undermined by other sponsors. The Minimum Health Requirements Policy sets standards for all sporting organisations, ensuring compliance with health-related guidelines and public health priorities. Implementation of these policies through partnerships with State Sporting Associations in WA supports a systematic approach across sporting networks that promotes health and reduces exposure of unhealthy brands, particularly amongst children.

Through rigorous policy enforcement, Healthway has ensured that State Sporting Associations across WA avoid promoting unhealthy brands, and actively promote physical activity, healthy eating, and mental wellbeing. Integration of policies has led to values-based partnerships between Healthway and sporting organisations, aligned with health objectives. These successful partnerships highlight the potential to increase integration of health promotion strategies at a State Sporting Association level.

Healthway’s partnership approach highlights the importance of policy to support collaboration and transparency in creating sustainable, health-driven partnerships within sport. Integration of health policies into sport sponsorships demonstrates that with clear guidelines and firm enforcement, it is possible to shift the focus of sports partnerships from commercial interest to community health.

Background: Older adults’ health behaviours were disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions. This study aims to explore sociodemographic correlates of physical activity (PA), sedentary behaviour (SB) and their change during the pandemic.

Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of the ASPREE Longitudinal Study of Older Persons-eXTension (ALSOP-XT) cohort. Participants self-reported PA intensity, participation in balance and core/back exercises, muscle strengthening activities and changes in PA during the pandemic. SB was assessed using self-reported TV hours, and SB changes were investigated. Binary logistic regression analysis explored associations of sociodemographic correlates (age, education, gender, area socioeconomic status (SES), remoteness, Australian states and territories and living situation) with PA and SB and their change after adjustment for potential confounders.

Results: Majority of participants performed moderate to vigorous PA (53%), did not perform muscle strengthening (70%) or balance activities (79%), watched ≥2 hours of TV per day (70%) and maintained their PA (80%) and SB (61%) levels during the pandemic.

Higher education, younger participants, rural participants and males had higher odds of performing moderate to vigorous PA. Higher education, females, living alone, in higher SES areas and younger participants had higher odds of performing balance activities. Higher education, living alone, in higher SES areas and younger participants had higher odds of performing muscle strengthening activities. Higher education, urban participants, females, those from Victoria (vs. Australian Capital Territory) and younger participants had higher odds of reporting that their PA had changed, while those from South Australia had lower odds. Younger participants, with lower education and rural participants had higher odds of watching ≥2 hours of TV. Urban participants, those from Victoria and New South Wales, females, living alone and from the highest SES area had higher odds of increasing SB.

Conclusion: Several sociodemographic factors were linked to lower PA and higher SB, highlighting vulnerable subgroups.

Problem
Recent research shows that over three times as many cancers are attributable to physical inactivity than previously thought. Exercise is often promoted as athletic-looking, young people in active-wear “hitting the gym”, which excludes, and can alienate most of the population.

What we did
To address the low proportion of WA adults meeting Australian physical activity (PA) guidelines, Cancer Council WA (with ongoing funding from the WA Department of Health) developed the LiveLighter® Move More campaign. Four videos were created with community members describing what motivates them to move. The videos aim to represent people not often shown in PA promotions and to inspire people to move more in whichever way works for them. Co-benefits of PA such as improving mental health, increasing energy and social connection were highlighted.

Relative to other LiveLighter® campaigns Move More had a small production and media budget. The campaign ran across digital channels and was evaluated with a pre-campaign (n=404) and post-campaign online survey (n=408).

Results
Respondents at post-campaign were significantly more likely than those at pre-campaign to meet the Australian guidelines for moderate activity (46% cf. 53%) as well as to agree that being more active improves mood (42% cf. 51%) and helps manage stress (43% cf. 51%).

Respondents with campaign awareness were significantly more likely than those without awareness to form intentions to be more physically active and less sedentary e.g., sit less over the next week (34% cf. 50%); and significantly more likely to be more physically active e.g., met Australian PA guidelines (27% cf. 43%).

Lessons
The development of a digital media campaign involving community members that highlights co-benefits of PA produced a unique campaign with associated positive changes to behaviour. Given the importance of PA to health, learnings from the development of campaigns such as this are vitally important.

Introduction
In Australia, LGBT+ youth participate in physical activity at a disproportionately lower rate compared to the broader population. Consequently, they miss out on the benefits of sports and physical education, which increases their risk of developing non-communicable diseases later in life. Intersectional factors, including race and disability, further exacerbate these challenges.

Methods
This systematic review identified the barriers and enablers experienced by LGBT+ youth (aged 12-18) in sports and physical education, utilising a socioecological model. Six databases were searched (MEDLINE, Cochrane, Global Health, CINAHL, Education Source, and Web of Science) and a desktop review of evidence-based grey literature identified 13 peer-reviewed articles and one report meeting the inclusion criteria.

Results
Findings reveal nine barriers experienced by LGBT+ youth in sports and physical education which were unsupportive relationships, perpetuated binary gender practices, discrimination, bulling, homo/transphobic behaviour, ‘outness’ and traditional masculine stereotypes. Only three enablers were identified: understanding the benefits of sports and physical education, supportive relationships and environments. Team sports, compared to individual activities, were perceived as both enablers and barriers, depending on the participants’ sense of safety and alignment with their gender identity.

Conclusion
Understanding the experiences of LGBT+ youth in sports and physical education is crucial for the successful implementation of youth health and prevention policy and can inform the development of the upcoming for LGBTIQA+ Health and Wellbeing 10-year National Action Plan, aiming to improve the health outcomes of the LGBT+ population.

Introduction: The Stronger Through Sport (STS) program, piloted by the Alcohol and Drug Foundation (ADF), aimed to reduce anti-social behaviours among vulnerable young Australians aged 14-20 by addressing barriers to their participation in community sports. Recognising the protective role that sports play—providing structure, fostering self-esteem, and connecting young people with positive adult role models—STS targeted young people at risk of contact with the criminal justice system. The program mitigated common barriers to participation, such as financial constraints and lack of transport, and fostered partnerships between youth support services and local sporting clubs. The program was piloted in four regions across Tasmania, Queensland, and Western Australia from October 2022 to April 2024. Alongside supporting vulnerable youth, STS also built the capacity of clubs by training designated club leaders to mentor and support at-risk youth.

Methods: This evaluation drew on multiple data sources, including surveys from all participant groups, plus data from other sources such as recruitment and attendance tracking sheets.

Results: The pilot evaluation suggests STS has the potential to enhance young people’s participation in sports, with participating clubs reporting increased capacity to support vulnerable youth. Clubs valued the support provided by the program, especially the training for club leaders. Additionally, recruitment figures indicate that STS successfully facilitated youth participation and fostered ongoing connections to sporting clubs. Most (85%, n= 11) of the referring organisations reported observing a reduction in anti-social behaviour amongst young people. Challenges included the pilot program’s short duration which limited the ability to measure long-term outcomes such as sustained reductions in anti-social behaviour.

Conclusion: Despite these challenges, STS shows significant promise in promoting social inclusion and reducing youth crime. Future evaluations are recommended to better understand the program’s long-term impact and to further embed the initiative within communities to maximise its reach and sustainability.

Introduction: Governments make substantial investments in scaling-up school-based programs.
However, a lack of clear evidence regarding effective scale-up strategies and how to select interventions that are amenable for delivery at scale, are the main barriers to successful scale-up. In this presentation we will discuss the process of the development of a theoretically designed, multi-component strategy to increase the adoption of a scalable, effective, school nutrition program (SWAP IT) within primary (elementary) schools, across Australia, designed to address this critical evidence-gap.
Methods: A multi-step process was undertaken to design the scale-up strategy: i) SWAP IT was optimised for scale-up through repeated randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to enhance its reach, reduce cost, while retaining effectiveness; ii) a systematic review identified models and success factors for scale-up of public health interventions; iii) best-practice scale-up guidance was followed; iv) an evidence-based approach identified determinants of school adoption and mapped these against a consolidated theoretical framework to create six specific scale-up strategies and; v) stakeholders were engaged at each stage of scale-up co-design, including researchers (with expertise in dietetics, public health, implementation and scale-up, technology, parenting, education), end-users (e.g., parents/principals) and leading prevention partner agencies in six Australian state jurisdictions.
Results: Four jurisdictions are actively testing the scale-up strategy. A parallel RCT design is being used with schools randomised to receive either a 6-to-9-month multi-component scale-up strategy or waitlist-control. The primary outcome is school adoption of SWAP IT resulting from scale-up strategies, assessed via electronic enrolment records on the SWAP IT website. Secondary outcomes include population-level effects on child nutrition and obesity, program sustainment, and economic evaluation. Extensive process evaluation at multiple levels will be employed.
Conclusion: This research will provide high quality evidence to address a fundamental evidence-gap and inform policy and practice decision-making about how best to scale-up health promotion programs in schools.

Introduction
Universal health promotion programs designed for general populations often fail to accommodate cultural diversity. This limits their efficacy in heterogeneous populations, like Aboriginal communities, where health promotion activities are most needed to address health inequities. Engaging Aboriginal stakeholders in identifying cultural adaptations for health programs can improve uptake among Aboriginal communities.
This paper describes the cultural evaluation of a school-based nutrition initiative (SWAP IT) within the Hunter New England (HNE) region of NSW, examining school staff insights on their experiences and suggestions for adapting the program to better align with Aboriginal values and practices, focusing on perceptions of the program’s cultural appropriateness. Without Aboriginal perspectives embedded in program design and delivery, the acceptability and effectiveness of health initiatives may potentially diminish, exacerbating existing health inequities.
Methods
We used an exploratory qualitative study, drawing on Indigenous methodologies rooted in Aboriginal epistemologies. The evaluation was led by an Aboriginal Program Manager with governance groups that provided cultural oversight. Data were collected from School Staff at 7 schools with high Aboriginal enrolments in the HNE region of NSW. The study lead used Yarning methodology to discuss key topics with participating staff. Thematic analysis was conducted inductively, enabling the identification of key insights from the data.
Results
The data from yarns with 11 School Staff provided key insights. Although there was a generally positive reception of SWAP IT, gaps were identified for improvement. Efforts were needed to improve inclusion of Aboriginal staff with SWAP IT implementation in schools. Various adaptations emerged to improve the program for cultural responsivity. These included surface-level adaptations, such as incorporating Aboriginal artwork and bush foods in program materials, as well as deep-level modifications, such as embedding SWAP IT within Aboriginal cultural events like NAIDOC Week to enhance relevance.
Conclusion
This study revealed essential insights to inform the cultural adaptation of SWAP IT for Aboriginal communities in the HNE region. By implementing both surface and deep adaptations, the program will resonate with Aboriginal values, thus addressing health disparities more effectively and fostering greater community engagement.