Examining the integration of sport and health promotion: partnership or paradox?

Cross-sector partnerships between public health agencies and non-profit sport organisations may offer an effective approach to health promotion given their mutual interest in facilitating opportunities for individual and community well-being. The study draws on conceptual framing from the public non-profit partnership literature to understand the potential role of sport organisations in health promotion partnerships and the factors associated with engaging these cross-sector partners. The research involves a case study of a local, cross-sector partnership for health promotion aimed at increasing physical activity through strategic marketing campaigns. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with representatives from partner organisations in the sport sector and members of the partnership executive committee, as well as active-member participant observation. The results suggest that despite congruent organisational priorities and policy imperatives that link sport and health-based organisations, there was evidence of misalignment in the partners' capacity to collaborate. There was also notable incongruence in the discourses related to sport and health and the norms and values underpinning the partnership of public health and non-profit community sport. The implications of the research suggest that despite higher-order policy agendas emphasising partnerships as a means to advance health outcomes, there are significant constraints in local capacity for collaboration to meet these policy goals.