OP0070 PARE GEOCACHING AS AN ENCOURAGEMENT FOR BEING ACTIVE
Authors: Tinja Saarela
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2019)

<h3>Background</h3> The Finnish Rheumatism Association and Novartis started a project in 2017 to energise our local associations, members and their families by adapting an active lifestyle. Geocaching is a fun, family-friendly way to exercise both mind and body. It is for everybody to enjoy. Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific locations marked by coordinates all over the world. There are about three million geocaches hidden around the world. A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook and sometimes a pen or pencil. The geocacher signs the log with their established code name and dates it to prove that they found the cache. After signing the log, the cache must be placed back exactly where it was found. <h3>Objectives</h3> The main goal of the project was to hide 70 new caches all over Finland to create an enjoyable experience for other geocachers. Those caches were named "Reumageo" at the beginning of the cachename. For all the associations that were involved in this project received money allocated to sport and physical activity out of the 15,000 euro project budget. The project ended on 12 october 2018, and all logged caches were included in the game. <h3>Methods</h3> We started our project by training association representatives. The training included the basics of geocaching: how to find caches, how to hide your cache and create your cache page, different geocachetypes and everything you should know geocaching. The trained representatives told about geocaching in their own associations, and they were responsible for creating at least 2-3 new caches and handling the new caches. The main idea was that when you have found about 15-20 caches you would start to hide your own caches. Together with local associations our aim was to create 70 caches all over Finland to celebrate the 70-year-old Finnish Rheumatism Association. Outdoor geocaching adventure starts indoors with preparation and online research. You need a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or a mobile device, your own account at the site geocaching.com. The site offers a completely free access to the caching data and all the site features. The site offers also a "premium" member status to access certain features. You can also download the Geocaching intro app onto your smartphone, like Geocaching. <h3>Results</h3> There were 43 members from 30 local associations in Oulu, Mikkeli, Helsinki and Turku in these geocaching trainings. All these members are suffering from rheumatic and other musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) and work as volunteers for sport and physical activity, and now for geocaching. By 12 october 2018 there were 48 reumageocaches made by 13 local associations. The caches were logged 6593 times. So local associations earned 173-4303 euros each to be used for promoting sport and physical activity programmes and active lifestyles. <h3>Conclusion</h3> Promoting an active lifestyle is part of the health and wellbeing policy in The Finnish Rheumatism Association. The goal is to encourage people of all ages to stay healthy by getting enough exercise. The geocaching project shows that it is easy to some of local associations to start projects like this. Some associations thought that it is too difficult to learn new methods especially when their members are elderly people. Geocaching is increasingly popular, inclusive, a fun and healthy pastime for individuals of all ages. It is also great for groups like local associatons, families, friends, and youth groups working as teams. Those local associations that were involved in this project received a great budget for their local sport and physical activity programmes. It is great to see something evolving from the beginning and come into being. <h3>Disclosure of Interests</h3> None declared