Author: Danae Dante

The American Journal of Preventative Medicine published an article titled “ The Effectiveness of Interventions to Increase Physical Activity, A Systematic Review.”

The authors of the article used the Guide to Community Preventive Service’s to assess the efficiency of different approaches to increasing physical activity.

Due to the decline of physical activity and increase of obesity and other health related problems, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends 30 minutes of physical activity a day. Despite the benefits of regular physical activity, only 25 percent of adults in the United States report engaging in the recommended amounts of physical activity (Kahn, Ramsey, Brownson, Heath, Howze, Powell, Stone, Rajab & Corso, 2002). Those who are physically active have a reduced risk of developing cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes (formerly called non–insulin-dependent diabetes), colon cancers, osteoporosis, and depression and of having fall-related injuries (Kahn et al., 2002).

Community based physical activity programs increase and further maintain the amount of physical activity executed by participants. Gators on the Go was created by the College of Health and Human Performance the University of Florida to increase physical activity on campus. On the Go, a web-based exercise intervention program was formed to increase the amount of physical activity among communities and aid in decreasing the amount of obese citizens in the United States.

The study published by The American Journal of Preventative Medicine was intended to change knowledge about the benefits of physical activity, increase awareness of opportunities within a community for increasing physical activity, explain methods for overcoming barriers and negative attitudes about physical activity and increase participation in community based activities (Kahn et al., 2002).

The community wide campaigns that were evaluated dealt with activities directed at both increasing levels of physical activity and improving dietary behaviors. The following is the evaluation of 10 studies. The studies showed that physical activity increased by 4.2 percent and energy expenditure increased by 16.3 percent (Kahn et al., 2002). Out of 10 studies only one did not show an increase in physical activity (Kahn et al., 2002). Seven of the studies examined weight change by measuring body mass index, weight, relative, weight and the percentage of people who were overweight (Kahn et al., 2002). Three studies showed weight losses, two showed no changes and two showed slight weight gains,with a net decrease of .6 percent (Kahn et al., 2002).

The conclusion of the studies examined proved that there is strong evidence that community-wide campaigns are effective in increasing levels of physical activity as measured by an increase in the percentage of people engaging in physical activity and energy expended (Kahn et al., 2002). This solidifies the mission and purpose of the On the Go program, which is to increase physical activity among communities.

Other intervention programs that reap positive results deal with educational institutions, physical education classes and college-based health education. The interventions modified physical education courses to make physical activity a priority, by lengthening class time, increasing intensity of the class time and driving home the purpose and importance of physical activity (Kahn et al., 2002). Thirteen studies evaluated the effectiveness of modified school-based PE curriculum and policies. These studies showed consistent increases in time spent in physical activity at school (Kahn et al., 2002). Five of the 13 studies showed increases in the amount and percentage of time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity in PE classes, the net increase was 50.3 percent and three studies showed increases in energy expenditure as well (Kahn et al., 2002).

According to Community Guide rules of evidence, there is strong evidence that school-based PE is successful in increasing levels of physical activity and improving physical fitness among school-aged children (Kahn et al., 2002).

The On the Go program can easily be adopted in physical education courses. Educators work alongside students to set physical activity goals and keep them accountable through the Web site tracking system. The On the Go program can also be used outside of physical education classes by asking all students within the school to participate in the Web-based exercise program and schools can make physical activity fun by implementing competitions to see which grade gets the most steps.

The On the Go program is easy to start. It involves setting a goal of how many steps should be taken daily, wearing a pedometer and logging steps onto the customized Web site. The Web site contains everything necessary to calculate individual goals, maintain a log of steps, convert various exercises into steps, healthy recipes and much more. Along with access to the customized Web site, participants receive daily motivational e-mails to keep morale high.