Sport for health

Name of the activity: Sport for health

Country/NMO: Slovenia (SloMSIC)

Program: Healthy Lifestyles & Non-Communicable Diseases

Type of the activity: Sport activity.

General description:

Our project raises awareness of healthy lifestyle to every medical student and tries to promote healthy way of living to every resident in the town. We are aware that active lifestyle is one of the key elements of healthy life. Therefore, our project provides and organises many different activities to maintain our bodies and minds in a healthy state. We encourage students to spend time in nature by organising skiing, hiking and trekking trips. We promote socialising and collaboration by organising picnics where medical students gather, make new friendships and spend quality, active time together. Every year we attend Wings for Life World Run, where we run for those who cannot and provide weekly gym sessions. In addition, we enable our members to participate in international events such as marathon called Batatek, which takes place in the Netherlands, or international sports tournaments such as Euroijada, Unijada, Medicinijada, Humanijada and others.

Focus area:

Prevention of NCDs and Health Promotion

Problem statement:

The main problem that we want to address is lack of physical activity and socialising among medical students. We have observed that the majority of students do not have time for sports and socialising beyond the obligations of our faculty. We want to address this problem with the ability to provide activities that will connect students in their free time. We hope that these behavioural patterns will help them in the future to live healthier and help them to socialise.

Target groups:

Medical students

Beneficiaries:

General population, Medical students, Doctors

Objectives and indicators of success:

• To promote healthy lifestyle through organised events, Facebook and Instagram page – 500 followers

• To boost sport activity of students – by cheaper fitness membership, regular evening group hikes – indication of success through a questionnaire given to all medical students

• To organise Medical picnics – in May and October – volleyball and tennis tournament – 100 participants

• To participate in marathons (Tek zdravja (Health run) – 7th of April, Wings for life – 5th of May, Ljubljana marathon – 27th of October) – 20 participants by marathon

• To organise a lecture about sport exercises and training of exercises for back pain – in April – 20 participants

• To organise a mountain hike – in April and October – 1000 m.a.s.l. – 18 participants, 2 guides

• To organise skiing – in March and December – 9-18 participants

• To participate in international university tournament – Uniada/Euroiada/Mediciniada – 3 teams

Evidence for Problem Statement (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3200/JACH.55.2.77-82, http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/43/2/89.short )

Methodology:

Our objectives are straight-forward. Each month we organise at least one activity, which contributes to achieving our goals and objectives. These activities include skiing, hiking, weekly gym sessions, marathons, organisation of a picnic for all students of Faculty of Medicine in Maribor, lectures with renowned speakers, workshops of different rehabilitation exercises and others. In collaboration with local fitness club we provide a cheaper fitness membership to all medical students which contributes to their actively spend free time and better performance. The organisation of Medical picnic is also a great project. The attendance of it is very high because it provides a quality time spent with colleagues, organised beach-volleyball and tennis tournament and healthy food prepared by our students. We also organise events that are of student’s choice – they have a chance to suggest an activity. Our organising team picks one or two of the best suggestions, which we then organise.

Plans for evaluation:

We are keeping track of every activity we have done in the past years. This data includes the number of participants on activity, the financial plan and the success of activities carried out. Every year we try to compare the results and make an evaluation. The result of evaluation is positive if we exceeded last year’s number of attendees and if we spend less money on that activity, however the activity also has to be positively rated by the attendees. Usually, after every event, we put out a poll so attendees can cast a vote about the activity – the pros and cons, what would they change and if they would recommend it to their friends. The finances play a big role in quality of the events and our supplies. We try to keep the costs at its minimum and, of course, provide an unforgettable experience for all participants.