Exploring the Health-Promoting Potential of the “parkrun” Phenomenon: What Factors are Associated With Higher Levels of Participation?

Abstract

parkrun attracts nonwalkers/runners and population groups hard to engage in physical activity. Individual- and social-level factors were associated with higher relative parkrun participation. parkrun's scalability, accessibility, and wide appeal confers a research imperative to investigate its potential for public health gain.

Health and broader community benefit of parkrun—An exploratory qualitative study

“…Other participants reported trying new types of PA, providing evidence that parkrun may result in a growing self‐efficacy for PA, a well‐established correlate of PA generally . This finding also supports our earlier quantitative work which found that self‐efficacy for parkrun was associated with higher levels of parkrun participation . Self‐monitoring and feedback are also well‐established behavioural strategies which appear effective in programs to increase PA generally, elements which are incorporated into parkrun's design through the recording and publishing of attendance and walk/run time data …”

“…While parkrun participation growth is impressive, it is notable that populations normally harder to engage in PA are meaningfully represented . UK and Australian cross‐sectional parkrun surveys demonstrated good representation of non‐walkers/runners or low‐moderate exercisers at parkrun commencement, as well as older adults, parents with non‐adult children, women, those experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage and those living with overweight/obesity, or illness/injury/disability limiting PA . Our Australian study revealed that correlates of higher parkrun participation are education level (inversely), perceived social benefits, self‐efficacy for and intentions to participate in parkrun and having completed parkrun in more than one Australian jurisdiction .…”

“…Prior to the interview, participants were provided with an information sheet and consent form. All interviews were guided by an interview schedule informed, by our previous research and the broader parkrun literature . The schedule included questions related to sociodemographic characteristics, current and past PA and parkrun participation, reasons and future intentions for parkrun participation and PA generally, barriers to participation, outcomes from parkrun participation, volunteering at parkrun and encouraging others to attend parkrun .…”

“…However, the sample reflected a generally older, highly educated, relatively healthy and possibly economically stable group which may limit generalisability. Further, similar to other parkrun studies, those who had discontinued parkrun participation were not represented—an important population to include in future research as this group may offer different perspectives on parkrun . While the study sample was small, it was determined that saturation of major themes was achieved, although it is possible that other relevant themes were not discussed.…”

A Scoping Review of the Relationship between Running and Mental Health

“…Nineteen studies only included runners [30,31,34,35,39,44,48,49,51,55,58,[65][66][67]70,[74][75][76] and compared different levels and types of running. Some studies found a positive association with higher self-identity runners and low levels of depression and high self-efficacy [30,[65][66][67]74]. Studies investigating marathon training found a positive relationship of marathon training with self-esteem and psychological coping [55,71].…”