Wheeling walks: evaluation of a media-based community intervention

Fam Community Health. 2005 Jan-Mar;28(1):64-78. doi: 10.1097/00003727-200501000-00009.

Abstract

Mass media community-wide physical activity intervention to promote and sustain changes in walking was assessed using a 2-community longitudinal design. The intervention targeted sedentary 50- to 65-year-old residents of Wheeling, West Virginia. Telephone surveys of a probability sample followed cohorts at baseline and at 3-, 6-, and 12-month post-intervention with comparison communities. The intervention, consisting of paid advertisements, public relations, and community participatory planning, attained high levels of awareness and effected significant sustained population-wide changes among the most sedentary in Wheeling.

MeSH terms

  • Cohort Studies
  • Community Participation / methods*
  • Female
  • Health Promotion / methods*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mass Media*
  • Walking*
  • West Virginia