Regional research of quality of health and fitness services provided by sports organizations

Фотографии: 

ˑ: 

Professor, Dr.Hab. V.N. Zuev
Professor, Dr.Hab. N.G. Milovanova
D.V. Gramotin
Institute of Physical Culture, Tyumen state university, Tyumen
Tyumen Region State Institute of Regional Education Development, Tyumen

Keywords: quality, sports and health services, satisfaction characteristics, material and technical support, staffing, territorial accessibility, social functions.

Introduction. The matter of quality is a characteristic feature of modern civilization, it is essential for all spheres of life. From this point of view, physical culture and sport are considered as common cultural values, their mission is culture formation and ensure development of a "man of culture". The potentialities of physical culture and sport in creating a healthy lifestyle are very diverse: improvement of physical and moral qualities of an individual, organization of active leisure of population, prevention of diseases and negative social phenomena, as well as full-fledged professional activity in a competitive environment. The regulatory documents emphasize the social importance of physical education and sport for socio-economic development and improvement of the quality of life of Russian people [3].

Sports and health services apply to sociocultural services and are an important factor of healthy lifestyle that determines the duration of active life, social, biological and psychological well-being of citizens, as well as the factor of disease prevention, organization of meaningful leisure time and prevention of antisocial behavior and formation of humanistic values.

The purpose of the study was to determine the degree of satisfaction of the population of the Tyumen region with the quality of sports and health services provided by sports organizations of the Tyumen region.

Materials and methods. To study public opinion about the quality of sports and health services we surveyed respondents in the age of 18 and older, including experts, from 8 municipalities of the Tyumen region. We surveyed 1500 of residents of the following municipalities: the cities of Tyumen, Ishim and Zavodoukovsk and the Vikulovsky, Ishimsky, Nizhnetavdinsky, Tobol'sky and Yurginsky regions in the period of 2012-2014. The expert survey was conducted in the same municipalities of the Tyumen region. The experts included: heads, deputy heads and specialists of the bodies of state and municipal administration in the field of physical culture and sport; trainers; organizers of mass sports activities and university physical education and sports teachers.

Five segments of the quality of health and fitness services provided by sports organizations of the Tyumen region were identified in the study including: satisfaction with the domiciliary conditions for physical culture and sports activities; material and technical support of physical culture and sports activities; staffing of fitness centers, sports clubs on the territory of residence; satisfaction of residents of the area of the territorial accessibility of health and fitness centers, sports clubs on the territory of residence. In addition, expert interviews with specialists from public authorities and local bodies, managers and specialists of physical culture and sports organizations, institutions of vocational training in the field of physical culture and sport were conducted.

The satisfaction with the domiciliary conditions for physical culture and sports activities. According to the respondents, more than a quarter of residents are generally satisfied with the domiciliary conditions for physical culture and sports activities; 27% of residents are rather satisfied with the conditions and that is concurrent with the experts' opinion. 19% of residents answered "rather no" and "no" and only 2% of experts agreed with the opinion of this group (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. The answers of respondents to the question "Are you satisfied with the conditions for physical culture and sports in your place of residence?" (% of total respondents)

The majority of respondents (45% of males and 46% of females) are generally satisfied with the domiciliary conditions for physical culture and sports activities.

Most of respondents of different age groups gave positive answers too. The degree of satisfaction with the domiciliary conditions for physical culture and sports activities in general is slightly lower in the age groups of 30-39 years and 40-49 years. Accordingly, the number of those not satisfied with the conditions for physical culture and sports activities is higher in these age groups.

A lot of respondents who have incomplete secondary education and complete secondary education noted that they were generally satisfied with the conditions for physical culture and sports activities (60% and 54% respectively). Some of respondents who had completed secondary vocational education and higher education also noted that they were generally satisfied with the conditions.

About 64% of residents are satisfied with the material and technical support of physical culture and sports activities: 37% gave a positive answer. Among them, 67% of males and 64% of females. The respondents under the age of 29 years expressed their satisfaction with the quality of sports equipment. Most of them had incomplete secondary education and complete secondary education (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. The satisfaction of respondents with the material and technical support of physical culture and sports activities (% of total respondents)

Just over a half of respondents in the age of 30 years and older also said they were satisfied with the material and technical support of training sessions. Only 23% of respondents were not satisfied, slightly less than a half of them were in the age of 39 years and older and about one-third of the subjects had secondary and higher education.

About 72% of residents, 73% of males and 71% of females, were satisfied with the staffing of fitness centers and sports clubs on the territory of the region. More than 80% of the respondents aged 18 to 29 years and 60% of the respondents aged 30 years and older expressed their satisfaction with the quality of staffing of fitness centers. Among them, about 80% had incomplete secondary education and complete secondary education and about 70% - secondary education and higher vocational education (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. The satisfaction of respondents with the staffing of fitness centers and sports clubs on the territory of residence (% of total of respondents)

Only 15% of residents noted they were not satisfied with the activities of sports staff, among them 16% of males and 15% of females; just over 10% of respondents aged 29 years and older than 50 years, and more than 20% of respondents aged 30 to 49 years. The degree of dissatisfaction with the quality of staffing did not exceed 18% for all levels of education.

The satisfaction of residents of the area with the territorial accessibility of health and fitness centers and sports facilities. It has been established that 59% of respondents on the territory of residence were satisfied with it, among them 58% of males and 60% of females. The degree of satisfaction with the territorial accessibility of centers and clubs was reducing depending on the age of respondents (from 68% to 52%). On the contrary, the indicators of inaccessibility of clubs and centers tended to increase depending on the age of respondents, from 20% to 25%.  The indicators of accessibility were also decreasing depending on the level of education – from 65% of respondents who had incomplete secondary education to 58% of respondents who had higher vocational education (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. The satisfaction of respondents with the territorial accessibility of fitness centers and sports clubs (in % of total respondents)

About 24% of region residents, including 26% of males and 24% of females, consider local centers and clubs difficult to reach, 6% of the respondents consider them inaccessible. The respondents who had incomplete secondary education and complete secondary education (3% and 4% respectively) and the respondents with secondary education and higher vocational education (8% and 7% respectively) considered local sports organizations difficult to reach too.

The prices for health and fitness services in related centers and sports clubs are reasonable for 60% of region residents, including 61% of males and 58% of females. The degree of satisfaction with the price level for services in sports centers and clubs was decreasing with age: 71% of the respondents in the age up to 18 years, 64% in the age category of 18-29 years, and 57% aged 30-39 years. In the age category of those older than 40 years, about half of respondents (51%) were satisfied with the level of prices. The respondents who had incomplete secondary education and complete secondary education were satisfied with the prices for health and fitness services (68% and 65% respectively). This indicator was lower among the respondents who had secondary vocational education and higher professional education (56% and 59%, respectively).

In our study, 22% of region residents, including 23% of males and 22% females, noted that the prices for health and fitness services were unreasonable and 4% of the respondents considered the prices prohibitive. Most of respondents who are unsatisfied with the level of prices were in the age group of 30-39 years, and the least number of unsatisfied respondents were in the age group of 18 years (2%) and older than 50 years (3%).

The working hours of sports facilities and institutions of the region suit the majority of residents (77%), including 47% of males and 46% of females. Mostly the respondents in the category up to 39 years (over 70%) were satisfied with the working hours of sports facilities and institutions in the territory of residence. The degree of satisfaction was decreasing depending on the educational level: the higher the education level, the less the respondents were satisfied. The same situation was with those respondents who considered the working hours of sports organizations inconvenient.

14% of the respondents said they did not like the schedule of sports facilities and institutions in the territory of residence, among them 15% of males and 14% of females. Mostly the respondents in the age of older than 40 years (over 18%) were not satisfied.

The expert interviews with the specialists of the bodies of state and municipal administration, heads and managers of sports organizations and institutions of professional education in the sphere of physical culture and sport.

According to experts, the residents are generally satisfied with the conditions for physical culture and sports in the region (66%). About 20% of the experts noted that the people are rather not satisfied with the conditions for physical culture and sports activities, and 2% of the experts believe the residents are not satisfied with the conditions.

The majority of experts note that the situation related to the development of sports and health activities have improved both in the cities and in the regions, as more attention was given to the problem. 7 experts believe that the situation used to be better, but now it is getting worse especially in the cities, 5 experts note the worsening of the situation in the region.

Many experts believe that the equipment of sports facilities does not fully satisfy the residents of the region, only 9 experts point to the reliability of facilities and good quality of equipment.

Many experts note that the network of sports facilities and specialized organizations in cities and other areas remains underdeveloped. In order to improve the material and technical support of sports activities in the Tyumen region, the experts made some comments and proposals that can be stipulated in the following way:

-  "We don't have proper natural conditions in Tyumen, suitable places for physical exercises, there are no equipped parks where physical education classes can be given except for the "Gilevskaya roshcha".

- "Material and technical support is insufficient".

- "It would be good if each Federation could allocate financial resources for its sports".

While assessing the level of staffing of sports and health organizations, the experts note the lack of skilled workers, the qualifications of teachers, instructors and trainers have improved though. 12 experts of city municipalities and 5 experts of region municipalities note that the qualifications of teachers, instructors and trainers do not match modern requirements.

Here are some examples of expert opinions and suggestions on the improvement of the staffing in the area:

- "We need to attract young people to work in sports schools and teams and pay a decent salary".

- "There is a need to raise the prestige of a specialist in the sphere of physical culture and sport, to make it an attractive profession".

- "There should be courses, seminars and masterclasses for skill sharing".

- "We should provide better personnel selection".                                 

Conclusions:

Our study has also confirmed the correlation of gender and age peculiarities of the assessment of the quality of health and fitness services and the degree of satisfaction with the conditions for physical culture and sports activities.

References

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Corresponding author: zuev_sport72@mail.ru