The effectiveness of community sports interventions on children’s wellbeing: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Despite lacking broad evidence, sport participation has been suggested to promote wellbeing. The aim of this review was to assess the effectiveness of community sports interventions on children’s wellbeing, through the holistic lens of physical literacy (PL). A systematic search of five databases was conducted. Included studies explored community sports interventions aiming to improve children’s (4–18 years) wellbeing. From 8,333 eligible articles, 22 studies were included, and quality was assessed using the JBI critical appraisal tools. Data were included for a meta-analysis if wellbeing outcomes included three or more intervention groups and a control group. Effectiveness is reported across seven wellbeing constructs, including enjoyment, quality of life, life satisfaction, self-esteem, physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. A positive intervention effect was found for 16 of 24 wellbeing assessments and meta-analyses highlighted significant improvements on children’s quality of life (t = 5.27; p = 0.01; SMD 0.64). Interventions that focused on team sports, ran between 3–6 months and aligned to all PL domains showed the most significant improvements across all wellbeing outcomes. This review highlights community sport as a favourable setting to improve children’s wellbeing. Future research should align the content of interventions to PL principles and foster robust study designs with control group data.