Research shows that ParkPlay improves physical and mental health

In recent months Active Essex and independent research company State of Life have been conducting research into ParkPlay’s impact and social value. These are the key findings from their work:

• ParkPlayers report higher levels of physical activity, higher levels of wellbeing and resilience, increased neighbourhood trust and lower levels of loneliness (than non-players),… the more frequently someone attends ParkPlay, the higher their life satisfaction is likely to be.

• The highest positive effect is found in the 20% most deprived areas, where ParkPlay is mainly focused.

• State of Life used the Wellby to calculate the social value of ParkPlay. They very cautiously estimated that in terms of wellbeing improvements, ParkPlay could be worth between £4.6m – £18.2m annually (based on current scale and investment) with a potential social return on investment of £30 for every £1 spent.

• ParkPlay is effectively engaging deprived communities, those with limiting disabilities, those from minority ethnic backgrounds and people of all ages.

ParkPlay is almost 3 years old and in that time we’ve started 60 ParkPlays, across the country from Cornwall to County Durham. Almost 11,000 people have registered for ParkPlay and there have been 3,560 ParkPlay events on Saturdays nationwide. To date we’ve had over 7,200 unique individuals come to ParkPlay of whom 60% are women and girls.

While these are important numbers, we have and always will be committed to measuring our actual impact, to continual learning and improvement, and scrutiny of every aspect of what we do. We believe this is vital to being as good as we can be and giving credibility to our statements.

In 2022 we conducted our own research that showed some positive results, especially that 78% of ParkPlayers are inactive or fairly active (national average 39%) before coming to ParkPlay and that attending ParkPlay results in improved levels of family activity and mental health. But this was research conducted by us and was limited in its scope. We knew it was important to be able to understand the impact ParkPlay is having on people’s health and wellbeing. So we’re very proud that this research has resulted in such positive results that show ParkPlay delivers comparable social value and return on investment to established programmes such as parkrun and Beat The Street, and in communities where the need and potential impact is the greatest.

The report also highlights some valuable learnings for us, that we will use to improve so we can have the greatest possible impact on the greatest number of communities and individuals. The key learnings in the report are:

1. Connection and community are more important than physical activity – while ParkPlay started as an opportunity for people to try new activities in a free, safe and welcoming setting, over time it has become more of a community event, and a place where everyone is welcome to participate how they like.
2. Partnership and “joint effort” working is vital for impact – “ParkPlay is a great example of this where (when it’s working well) the central team both work with ‘the system’ to set the conditions for success and support a local person to engage their community and deliver on a Saturday.”
3. We must continue to be as flexible as possible, and spend time establishing the right conditions pre-launch to ensure we have a sustainable model and event.
4. And people are key – “ParkPlay plays an important role in building the capacity and confidence of local people to deliver physical activity opportunities which respond to the needs and wants of their community.”

ParkPlay is not the work of us alone – impact is a team effort and takes time. Thank you to our brilliant partners at Active Essex especially, and all the PlayLeaders like those at ATF that make ParkPlay what it is for their communities.

Please take the time to read Active Essex’s summary report and the full State of Life research which you can download below.

“Mental health is a big thing, particularly at the moment. And I think a lot of them come along to get out in the open, jump around, talk to people. For some people it’s the only socialising they actually get.“ PlayLeader

Find your local ParkPlay

Please visit our ParkPlay Parks page to find your local ParkPlay and come and join us for your ParkPlay session. We play every Saturday morning.