The effectiveness of interventions to increase physical activity. A systematic review.

Mass media campaigns are conducted to influence community norms around health behaviours, including physical activity Campaigns can reach large populations at relatively low cost, to influence awareness, knowledge and beliefs through to intention and behaviour change We reviewed 15 campaigns with an explicit focus on physical activity, and explored impacts upon a range of proximal and distal variables Campaigns achieved high recall, with a median of 70% of the target group aware of the campaign Increases in knowledge or attitudes to physical activity were found among half the campaigns that reported this measure Few campaigns reported other proximal variables, such as saliency, beliefs, self-efficacy or behavioural intention Increases in physical activity were reported among motivated sub-groups of volunteers, but few campaigns reported population increases in activity Campaigns increase awareness of the issue of physical activity but may not have a population-level effect on behaviour Campaigns should focus more on influencing proximal variables, such as social norms, to bring about long-term behaviour change This should be seen as part of a broader strategy, including policy and environmental change Evaluation designs that measure the full range of variables are preferred to an over-concentration on behaviour alone

Changing the way people think about health-enhancing physical activity: do mass media campaigns have a role?

Multi-strategic community wide interventions for physical activity are increasingly popular but their ability to achieve population level improvements is unknown. The objective of this review is to evaluate the effects of community wide, multi-strategic interventions upon population levels of physical activity.

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Community Wide Interventions for Increasing Physical Activity

Physical activity promotion through the mass media: inception, production, transmission and consumption.

Stand-alone mass media campaigns to increase physical activity: a Community Guide updated review.

Background. This article describes the evaluation of a media-based weight loss and nutrition program. Methods. Fifteen broadcasts were aired on a Chicago television news program over a three-week period in November of 1986. Some participants (n = 37) received the television program and an accompanying manual, and some (n = 37) received, in addition to the television and media interventions, encouragement to attend self-help groups dealing with obesity. Results. Repeated measures analysis of variance tests were performed, and planned comparisons were conducted only if main effects were significant. At posttesting, those participants attending the self-help groups lost an average of more than nine pounds, whereas those provided only the television program and manual had decreased by less than a pound. Those attending the groups had significantly decreased their percent of dietary fat intake, significantly increased aerobic exercise, and had significantly more hopefulness, motivation, and stimulus c...

Steven P. Johnson

Papers

A Large-Scale, Short-Term, Media-Based Weight Loss Program: