"Everyone was looking at you smiling": East London residents' experiences of the 2012 Olympics and its legacy on the social determinants of health.
Mega-sporting event regeneration, as a specific approach to urban renewal, uses impending host-city status as a catalyst for revitalisation and has the potential to improve health both through addressing deprivation and by promoting increased sport and physical activity among the host-city's population. This qualitative study explored how hosting of the London 2012 Games impacted upon the way East London residents perceived and experienced the social determinants of health in their local neighbourhood. We conducted narrative family interviews, go-along interviews and video focus group workshops with 66 Newham residents, aged 12-55 years, immediately after the Games. A narrative analytic approach examined accounts of health and wellbeing experiences in terms of neighbourhood change and the spectacle of the Games. Participants of this qualitative study generally welcomed the respite and the unexpected chance to live in a cleaner, safer and more unified environment. However, this positivity was underscored by an acute awareness that this was a very temporary situation and one that was intended to support the event rather than residents.
Department of Social and Environmental Health Research, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9SH, UK. Electronic address: claire.thompson@lshtm.ac.uk.
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Thompson
Department of Social and Environmental Health Research, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9SH, UK.
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Lewis
Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, New Radcliffe House, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK.
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Greenhalgh
Centre for Psychiatry, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, Old Anatomy Building, Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6BQ, UK.
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Smith
Centre for Psychiatry, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, Old Anatomy Building, Charterhouse Square, London EC1M 6BQ, UK.
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Fahy
Department of Social and Environmental Health Research, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9SH, UK.
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Cummins
D000328:Adult; D000846:Anniversaries and Special Events; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008131:London; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D036301:Qualitative Research; D064890:Social Determinants of Health; D013177:Sports; D014506:Urban Renewal; D055815:Young Adult
Health; London Olympic Games; Newham; Qualitative; Respite; Spectacle