@article {Abbott460, author = {K Abbott and P Klarenaar and A Donaldson and S Sherker}, title = {Evaluating SafeClub: can risk management training improve the safety activities of community soccer clubs?}, volume = {42}, number = {6}, pages = {460--465}, year = {2008}, doi = {10.1136/bjsm.2007.041467}, publisher = {British Association of Sport and Excercise Medicine}, abstract = {Objective: To evaluate a sports safety-focused risk-management training programme.Design: Controlled before and after test.Setting: Four community soccer associations in Sydney, Australia.Participants: 76 clubs (32 intervention, 44 control) at baseline, and 67 clubs (27 intervention, 40 control) at post-season and 12-month follow-ups.Intervention: SafeClub, a sports safety-focused risk-management training programme (3{\texttimes}2 hour sessions) based on adult-learning principles and injury-prevention concepts and models.Main outcome measures: Changes in mean policy, infrastructure and overall safety scores as measured using a modified version of the Sports Safety Audit Tool.Results: There was no significant difference in the mean policy, infrastructure and overall safety scores of intervention and control clubs at baseline. Intervention clubs achieved higher post-season mean policy (11.9 intervention vs 7.5 controls), infrastructure (15.2 vs 10.3) and overall safety (27.0 vs 17.8) scores than did controls. These differences were greater at the 12-month follow-up: policy (16.4 vs 7.6); infrastructure (24.7 vs 10.7); and overall safety (41.1 vs 18.3). General linear modelling indicated that intervention clubs achieved statistically significantly higher policy (p\<0.001), infrastructure (p\<0.001) and overall safety (p\<0.001) scores compared with control clubs at the post-season and 12-month follow-ups. There was also a significant linear interaction of time and group for all three scores: policy (p\<0.001), infrastructure (p\<0.001) and overall safety (p\<0.001).Conclusions: SafeClub effectively assisted community soccer clubs to improve their sports safety activities, particularly the foundations and processes for good risk-management practice, in a sustainable way.}, issn = {0306-3674}, URL = {https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/42/6/460}, eprint = {https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/42/6/460.full.pdf}, journal = {British Journal of Sports Medicine} }