Is physical activity a question of money? An analysis of the costs of community prevention for children from a user’s perspective

Abstract

Background: Children with low socioeconomic status have an increased risk of motor deficits. At the same time they participate less often in offers to promote physical activity. The reasons for this are unclear. In the context of financial barriers, the objective costs from a user’s perspective have not yet been explored, especially not with regard to social inequalities. Objectives: The study has two aims: What do parents have to pay for the physical activity offers their children participate in? How affordable are these offers for socioeconomically disadvantaged families? Materials and methods: First, we identified 36 offers of community nonprofit organisations for children up to 6 years in the city of Dusseldorf. For these offers, we calculated the price per unit, per hour and per month. In order to calculate affordability we put the cheapest and the most expensive offer after discount in relation to the disposable income of a single-parent family on social benefits. Results: Prices for parent–baby courses range from 20.00 to 48.00 € per month, for parent–child courses they range from 4.00 to 44.00 € per month and for swimming courses from 18.00 to 28.86 €. Prices after discount can account for 4.10 to 21.60% of the disposable income of a single-parent family with social benefits. Conclusions: Community nonprofit offers to promote children’s physical activity are adapted to families’ financial needs. They are, however, not always affordable for socioeconomically disadvantaged families. Further discount in selected offers could increase the participation of children with low socioeconomic status in offers to promote physical activity.