Be Active Your Way Blog - Marketing Physical Activity

Get Active America! – A Community Approach

TRichards — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 16:08:00 -0400

At a time when policymakers are pulling levers to transform our sick care system to a genuine health care system, we have redesigned our flagship health promotion program, Get Active America, beginning May 2, 2011, to position health clubs as leading voices in their communities for healthy and active lifestyles.

The cornerstone of Get Active America is outreach to encourage the club’s whole community – club members and nonmembers – to pursue an Active Lifestyle award, such as the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award, that will ultimately establish long-term, healthy physical activity habits. In this manner, Get Active America! supports the goal of the Let’s Move campaign, championed by First Lady Michelle Obama, to inspire at least one million Americans to be active for 5 days/week for at least 6 out of 8 weeks. We are looking forward to reporting the great contributions of IHRSA members to the First Lady and her Let’s Move team.

We are also encouraging participating clubs to reach out to other local leaders to increase the impact of their efforts.

We’re anticipating that local governments will be interested in a Get Active America partnership in the spirit of Let’s Move Cities & Towns. Perhaps the leaders of local faith communities will be eager for IHRSA clubs to sign up their members for an Active Lifestyle award and share the message of health and wellness. And, certainly, there must be a local service organization near every club that could benefit from a warm-up exercise and healthy living discussion before its next meeting, no?

Of course, participating clubs will also connect directly with youth and seniors. We’re recommending that clubs offer to bring Get Active America to schools and senior centers through classes or seminars. Or, better yet, invite young people and seniors to pursue an Active Lifestyle award by, for example, offering use of the club at discounted rates during off-peak hours.

The outreach possibilities are limited only by imagination. We know that participating clubs may run into a logjam of local bureaucracy or shortsighted skeptics, but they are empowered by the truth that a health club can transform the members of a community in a way that few institutions of our society can hope to match. Undoubtedly, health clubs provide a service – health and wellbeing through exercise – that is vital to any community.

We don’t know yet the ultimate impact of Get Active America, but we’re hoping that it will lead to several innovative community health models through exercise.

What are other organizations doing to encourage innovation in the promotion of physical activity at the community level?

Active Aging Week 2011

CMilner — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 12:15:00 -0400

A myriad of activities can enhance health and well-being. The key is to find the right ones for an individual. One example of how we can encourage people to find what works for them is ICAA’s Active Aging Week.

Now in its ninth year, Active Aging Week, September 25–October 1, promotes the benefits of active, healthy lifestyles for adults over 50. During that time, host sites invite older adults in their local communities to experience free wellness activities and exercise in a safe, friendly and fun atmosphere. Below are some insights from veteran organizers as well as some general planning tips for participating in this kind of health promotion event:

Save the dates. Give people plenty of notice to avoid scheduling conflicts.

Initiate planning early. Begin your planning cycle as early as possible to have time to develop a vision and create support materials.

Target the audience. Consider the target audience for your activities. The identity of your target audience will influence the goals you set, the partnerships you seek, and both the activities and approaches you use.

Decide on goals. Consider the specific goals you want to achieve through your activities, and let those goals guide your planning. Your objectives will focus your decisions through the planning stages. Plus, determine how to measure the success of your efforts.

Seek out partnerships. Determine the resources you will need and approach other organizations about forming alliances. These resources might include staff, facilities, expertise, contacts and funding, for example. Others to contact include organizations that might provide speakers and/or volunteers, or offer cash or in-kind donations.

Have a checklist. Make sure you know what you need to do, and when, in the months leading up to the event. To help Active Aging Week organizers, ICAA provides a general “five-month plan” listing the major planning stages, as well as a planning checklist of more detailed tasks (see below).

Work with colleagues. Bring colleagues into the planning process, as they can help in selecting goals, promoting the health promotion event, and supporting or leading activities. Also, seek out colleagues who have the skills to help with specific planning tasks, such as writing press releases or creating marketing approaches

Call in volunteers. Start a volunteer team and involve this group in creating a vision, spreading the word about activities, and carrying out plans

Use ICAA resources. Visit the ICAA website for free support materials used to help Active Aging Week hosts plan and implement this event. Resources include fact sheets; formats for media advisory, press release and calendar announcements; logos; posters; certificates of participation; and more. A bevy of “planning guide” articles offers programming inspiration and practical information, while planning worksheets include a marketing matrix and lists that hosts can customize to meet their needs. To access these resources, go to the ICAA Web site.

Active Aging Week activities may be the opportunity individuals need to step outside their comfort zone, finding that perfect activity that lets them be active their way. How can you take advantage of ICAA resources for Active Aging Week to help launch people on their way to healthier, active living?

Exergaming and Physical Activity

SLier — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 10:54:00 -0400

Video games, along with television and computers, are often maligned as a major culprit in the obesity epidemic in America. Given the coincidence between the obesity epidemic and the onslaught of media (a study from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that one in five 8 to 18 year olds are exposed to at least 16 hours of media a day!), it’s really not a stretch to see that this is the case.

However, recently, home gaming platforms, particularly Nintendo’s Wii, have received considerable attention and research funding to explore their potential in increasing physical activity. For example, some schools in New York City have developed pilot programs to have kids satisfy their gym requirement by playing Wii Fit 4 hours per week. The new term to describe this practice is “exergaming.”

One of the benefits of exergaming is its inherent entertainment factor. Kids (and adults) love games because they’re fun, social, and captivating. While exercising with the general goal of long-term health in mind is noble, it is difficult to remain motivated when there are more immediate needs to attend to, and you can always put your exercise off “until tomorrow”. Video games provide an engaging, immediate goal to attain, which coupled with a required physical activity can be a far less painful way to burn calories than logging endless hours on a treadmill. Video games have actually been shown to distract from physically painful stimuli, allowing people to tolerate pain longer. As with any other exercise regimen, exergaming is only useful if people stick to it and really exert themselves. Once the initial novelty wears off, these games can be just as tedious as trudging to the gym.

Is exergaming a sufficient way to get the recommended physical activity into our busy schedules? Compared to sedentary video games, active games are beyond a doubt a better choice. On average, kids expend only about 107 calories per hour playing sedentary games, which have also been shown to increase snacking behavior while playing: a double whammy for developing an obesogenic culture. In comparison, an hour of Wii boxing burns an average of about 174 calories. This is a definite improvement on sedentary gaming, however, keep in mind that one study showed that in doing an hour of real boxing, a kid expends 382 calories.

Does the hour of Wii boxing constitute the hour of physical activity suggested by the guidelines for children and adults?

According to the American College of Sports Medicine the answer is yes- so long as the activity gets the heart rate up sufficiently. This level of exertion varies with age and physical fitness level. For the physically fit gamer, home gaming systems don’t provide enough intensity for the games to be counted towards the daily physical activity recommendations, though games are certainly a good way to get together with friends and family or relax after a long day.

But for older adults who need get back into exercise, people who are undergoing rehab, or those who have limited mobility in general, exergaming is an engaging and comfortable way of getting exercise, which can very well serve as your physical activity for the day. You might be surprised to think of introducing older generations to video games, but according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, over half of adults regularly play video games already, making exergaming an obvious option for people who are already familiar with the systems.

How do you think exergaming can be incorporated into the physical activity recommendations?

Sanna Ronkainen B.A.
Guest blogger

Supporting families in creating healthy home environments

JKauffman — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 10:49:00 -0400

With one in three children in the nation obese or overweight and diabetes rates expected to rise dramatically over the next several decades, the imperative to help and support families sustain healthy lifestyles is as great as ever. Finding time for regular physical activity, eating healthy food, and finding supportive environments and relationships all have an impact on the health and well-being of children, adults, families and the communities where they live.

I can tell you that every day, in Ys across the country, we see and hear about the challenges families face. We know that busy families may feel many barriers to engaging in healthy lifestyles – anything ranging from long work hours, to overscheduled kids, and neighborhoods that are just unsafe for walking and playing. Taking small steps and making incremental changes toward incorporating healthy activities into family routines so they don’t seem cumbersome or overwhelming can be a solution to overcome some barriers.

Healthy Family Home^TM, a YMCA initiative, helps families adopt and maintain healthy behaviors like being more physically active by providing them with fun, simple and engaging activities that they can build into their daily schedules. Healthy Family Home is based on five pillars that support a healthy family home: Eat Healthy; Play Every Day; Get Together; Go Outside; and, Sleep Well. The physical activity component – Play Every Day – focuses on things families can do together. And it doesn’t matter what the activity is, it’s just about getting moving and being together.

The Y understands that healthy living begins at home. It’s important that families create environments that support healthy behaviors but we know that this is sometimes easier said than done. At the Y, we’ve made an intentional effort to support all individuals who struggle to adopt and maintain healthy lifestyles. So in addition to the many programs aimed at getting kids and families active inside the walls of the Y – Healthy Family Home helps to ensure that families are equipped to take what they’ve learned at the Y home with them. But you don’t have to be a Y member to reap the benefits. Families who have never even stepped foot in a YMCA can learn how to engage their families in healthy lifestyles by visiting www.ymca.net.

What we’ve learned is that parents want to create healthy environments, but they often don’t know how to make it happen in their home. And a one-size-fits all strategy isn’t going to work for all families. As professionals, we can help guide, support families and provide them with the tools and resources to apply what they’ve learned when they are at home and we aren’t around.

What do you think of Healthy Family Home? For more information about Healthy Family Home, visit: www.ymca.net

How might you help families that you work with adopt and maintain healthy habits?

Program Spotlight

SLier — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 13:55:00 -0400

This week we would like to spotlight the Hip Hop Healthy Heart Program for Children™ (Hip Hop), a comprehensive wellness program bringing together physical education, music, and arts in grade K-6th.

The Program Basics

Hip Hop works through wellness education that flows from teacher, to student, to family and the community at large. It requires parents/guardian/mentors to be involved in training on a daily basis, not only helping to reinforce the lessons at home, but also by personally participating in the President’s Active Lifestyle Award Program (PALA). It has 8 multidiciplinary modules and inspires kids to participate by recognizing their achievements with:

Award certificates for completion of each module
Certificate of Completion for the entire program.

In order to receive their final program certificate, students and an adult partner are required to register for the PALA when they start Module 1.

Measuring Success

Jyl Steinback, co-creator of the program and Executive Director of Shape Up US mentioned two ways in which Hip Hop is evaluated:

Educational Assessment: Students are required to complete a written test to assess their comprehension of the topic. Upon passing each module test, students will receive a module certificate of completion and will be eligible for additional awards and prizes.

Health Assessment: To make sure that the positive lifestyle lessons taught in Hip Hop are truly making a difference, Shape Up US has partnered with HeartSmartKids to track each student’s health progress. Anthropometric data, lifestyle factors, and family history are assessed and tracked using this system.

Challenges

Steinbeck states that, “in some cases, students may not have a parent, guardian or partner/mentor available, or able to participate.” In such cases, she suggests that instructors help students partner with another role model so that they can participate in the program: older siblings; grandparents; recent retiree volunteer - Check www.AARP.org ; student mentor from a local high school as part of the high school’s community service curriculum.

Implementing a Similar Program in Your Community

Use existing infrastructure- The Hip Hop model relies on training educators, healthcare professionals and others who work with groups of children. This creates a program with controlled costs because it builds on existing infrastructure. In your community, try building upon existing infrastructures to implement your program.

Engage parents and guardians- To help engage partners to get the maximum benefit of Hip Hop:

Letters to send home to parents that provides parents with information about the curriculum prior to starting it
Parent, guardian or partner/mentor contracts for each module

Reach out to encourage participation-

Scheduling a group meeting to discuss the curriculum
Send home personal invitations to the group meeting and ask parent/guardians to RSVP by a specific date.
Telephone parents who do not respond and encourage them to participate

Don’t forget potential resources in your community- Hip Hop is designed to be taught many different types of teachers. Programs like this can be taught by:

Public/Private School Teachers as part of their regular curriculum
Home School Instructors
PE Instructors
Fitness Instructors at Health Clubs, After School Programs, YMCA, etc.
Park and Recreation Instructors

Have you used existing infrastructure to implement a physical activity program? How?

Program Spotlight

SLier — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 12:23:00 -0400

This week we would like to spotlight Healthy & Fit on the Go, a program designed to inspire behavior change by providing tips and tools for self-care, healthy eating and physical activity for University of Minnesota Extension staff.

The Program Basics

Healthy & Fit on the Go is a program designed to inspire behavior change by providing tips and tools for self-care, healthy eating and physical activity for Extension staff who spend a great deal of their work day in the car. The Physical Activity Guidelines are used as the basis for materials development. A review of the research in behavior change, nutrition and physical activity resulted in this series of 10 how-to tip cards packaged in a take-along kit with a lunch bag, water bottle and exercise band.

This program is designed as a worksite wellness initiative; a pilot was conducted with staff that included an education session featuring the materials in the kit: an insulated lunch bag with re-freezable ice pack, a medium-resistance exercise band, a BPA-free water bottle and 4 how-to tip cards for healthy eating choices and physical activity ideas.

Components of the kit were distributed and demonstrated at the Annual Conference of Extension Educators during October 2010.

Measuring Success

Betsy Johnson and her colleagues conduct end-of-conference surveys at the close of each annual conference where distribution, education and demonstration occur. In addition, kit-specific online surveys are sent at 3-month and 6-month intervals following the conferences. Online surveys include a request for input regarding the usefulness of the kit contents as well as suggestions for tip card topics.

Initial results indicated a strong motivation for changing behavior upon receipt of the portable kit with actual changes exceeding 40 percent for recipients after the first year.

Challenges

Johnson mentioned three main challenges for the program:

Institutionalization: “It was relatively easy the first year to ensure all staff received the kit and participated in the education/demonstration. In years 2 and 3 we are experiencing some issues around distribution and education to new staff as well as distributing and educating staff about new tip cards.”

Individual motivation: “Kit recipients are motivated to use the materials immediately following the conference as evidenced in post-conference surveys. But motivation decreases as time passes. The 3-month and 6-month surveys indicate less actual use/behavior change the further away from the conference. But, each survey does serve as a reminder about the kit and some become motivated by that reminder.”

Cost: “As we expand to the staff in more program areas within Extension (and are faced with state budget crises) we are testing components of the kit for usefulness and cost-effectiveness as a way to motivate behavior change at a lower cost.”

Implementing a Similar Program in Your Community

Try using the following suggestions when implementing a program like this in your community:

As we’ve heard with other programs, get leadership buy-in. With upper management support for the effort, it will more likely be integrated into the planning for a conference or program; without that support, all expense and effort could be wasted.

Develop a systematic reminder system to maintain the motivation for behavior change that follows the education sessions.

Respond to suggestions for improvements, changes or additional tips and materials; it must be relevant to the user or it won’t be used.

If materials and education are distributed once a year at a conference, plan for 3-5 years worth of new materials to keep it fresh and to create the expectation that this wellness program is part of the conference culture.

Program Spotlight

SLier — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 09:35:00 -0400

This week we would like to spotlight the "Physical Activity. The Arthritis Pain Reliever" campaign which aims to increase physical activity among men and women with arthritis.

The Program Basics

"Physical Activity. The Arthritis Pain Reliever" is designed to:

• Raise awareness of physical activity as a way to manage arthritis pain and increase function

• Increase understanding of how to use physical activity (types and duration) to ease arthritis symptoms and prevent further disability

• Enhance the confidence of persons with arthritis so that they can be physically active

• Increase trial of physical activity behaviors

Messages are added or edited based on research including making sure that it is congruent with the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. In Wisconsin, implementation includes the health communication campaign with targeted print and community event outreach including health fairs, bus stop posters, and billboards.

Measuring Success

The Wisconsin Arthritis Program measures program success by impressions or the number of people that have been exposed to the campaign message. Radio spots, billboards, bus benches, posters, print ads and bookmarks are all utilized to communicate the campaign message to as many individuals as possible.

In May 2010, the Wisconsin Arthritis Program conducted the health communication campaign, including statewide radio advertising with targeted print and community event outreach in several select counties; Milwaukee, Marathon, and Wood.　 The Program was highly successful in delivering over 35 million impressions of the message to adults over the age of 40 living in Wisconsin.

Challenges

As Julie Dotson mentioned, "It can be time consuming to establish partnerships within a particular community prior to beginning a campaign." The Wisconsin Arthritis Program invested 6 months prior to campaign implementation into making contacts and establishing partnerships within the community. Dotson also mentioned that it was a challenge to make sure that the program aligned with prominent community leaders that were identified by members of the community. The Program learned that selecting the right individuals to serve on a planning committee or spearhead an effort is crucial to the campaigns ultimate success.

Implementing a Similar Program in Your Community

Partnering with community based organizations that frequently serve the population that you are trying to reach is essential. The Wisconsin Arthritis Program found that building rapport with the community through trusted partners was a very strong foundation on which to implement the campaign and spread the message regarding the importance of physical activity for persons with arthritis. The Program also found tremendous success in participating in community sponsored events like health fairs.

Using the P.A. Guidelines with Cancer Survivors: LIVESTRONG at the Y

JKauffman — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:22:00 -0400

What do you think of when you hear the word “cancer”? Like me, you probably don’t think of “working out”, or “increased levels of physical activity”. You might think of hair loss, painful treatments, feeling sick, and having no energy, among other things. But for some folks, exercise and physical activity is just what their doctor orders, even if they haven’t been active in the past. In most cases, the physical activity guidelines can be followed by (or modified for) cancer survivors, especially while under the care of an oncologist or other physician. Physical activity not only helps improve their physical health, but can also be instrumental in improving their overall well-being.

The Y started actively working with cancer survivors in organized programs more than three years ago, and has been instrumental in helping cancer survivors understand the role of physical activity in their life, and increasing their levels of physical activity during all phases of their life as a cancer survivor. (For most, the definition of a cancer survivor is anyone who has been diagnosed with cancer, from the minute of their diagnosis).

How did the Y become more effective in increasing activity levels with cancer survivors? Select Ys participated in the LIVESTRONG at the YMCA collaborative, in partnership with the Lance Armstrong Foundation. First, they oriented and trained their staff. Second, they engaged multiple cancer experts and organizations, locally and nationally. Third, they did everything they could to ease cancer survivors into evidence based programs, lead by caring, empathic staff, in safe comfortable surroundings, with other cancer survivors. And fourth, they shared what they learned along with the way.

Staff throughout these Ys were oriented and trained on how to respond appropriately when someone identifies themselves as a cancer survivor. We also learned basic, factual information about cancer, treatments, and ways to successfully engage cancer survivors in safe levels of physical activity. We involved local and national cancer experts during meetings, webinars, and conference calls, to glean more information about safe physical activities for cancer survivors, like weight training, aerobic activity, and flexibility exercises. This was critical to the creditability of the LiveStrong at the Y program, as was the empathic staff who led group physical activities or one-on-one training with cancer survivors.

One of the more creative and helpful aspects of the LiveStrong at the Y program was helping cancer survivors feel in control of their lives, through physical activity. Instead of feeling like their cancer diagnosis was a signal to do nothing (which can lead to a feeling like cancer is controlling your life), participants were encouraged to and participated in physical activities that showed they could indeed increase their physical conditioning, become stronger, more flexible, which overall showed them their cancer was something they could deal with. Working out with other cancer survivors, and even participating in activities that benefited others (park clean ups, food drives, etc.), only enhanced this feeling of being back and being in control of one’s life.

The physical activity guidelines are important for all people, abilities, and mindsets.

How are you using the guidelines in new programs or in programs with new populations?

Fighting Childhood Obesity

JWargo — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 08:22:00 -0400

As the Executive Director of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition I am profoundly aware of the importance of making physical activity and nutrition accessible and affordable for all Americans, especially children. This is a multifaceted problem, and I’ll address several dimensions of this issue in this discussion.

Availability of facilities that provide healthy, affordable food in our communities is a necessity. If we do not have facilities within our neighborhoods where we can obtain fresh fruits and vegetables at affordable prices, then kids are going to continue to buy the Twinkies. We’ve got to incent our retail establishments to be able to come into communities. I think we’ve seen success where we’ve put forth the effort in this area.

The school environment has a strong influence on whether physical activity and nutrition are accessible to children. Kids spend a good part of their days, weeks, and years in school. We’ve got to continue pushing for policy change as it relates to physical education and school meals.

In many cases we are going in the wrong direction. Physical education is being cut out of schools, and it is so very important. Many states are passing policies mandating physical activity. This time could be recess, before or after school programs, or physical education. The unintended consequence we are hearing from school officials is “we are doing our 15 minutes of recess and then kids are walking between classes, so we are just going to cut PE because nobody said we have to do PE.” Physical education is a curricular area. It is an educational area that should be taught by a certified physical education teacher. It is not recess.

When advocates like myself come in and say we need more physical education, what we are really saying is we need more quality PE.

We know it can be done. Often we hear that test scores are the priority and we only have so many minutes in each school day, but we have examples of schools that have made it a priority where kids are getting 30 minutes of physical education every day and their test scores are increasing. For more information regarding this, reference the Centers for Disease Control and the National Association for Sport and Physical Education report on academics and physical education. There is an increasing body of research that shows definitively that kids who are physically active perform better academically. It can decrease their delinquency and behavioral issues, as well as help them concentrate so they tend to perform better on tests.

Has your organization worked to improve access to the health of America’s children through physical activity and nutrition? How? To learn how you can get involved, visit www.presidentschallenge.org and become a President’s Challenge Advocate today.

Note: The President’s Council’s name was recently changed by Executive Order from President Obama to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition (PCFSN) in recognition of the fact that good nutrition must go hand in hand with fitness and sports participation in order to achieve a healthy lifestyle.

Keep Kids in the Game…for Life

BOwens — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:00:00 -0400

There is nothing more discouraging to a young athlete than an injury. Keeping young athletes safe is critical to fostering enjoyment from sports and developing a lifelong active lifestyle.

Many children and youths participate in organized athletics, either through school or community leagues. These athletes can be challenged both physically and mentally from this activity and may formulate lifelong relationships with organized sports. Unfortunately, injuries do occur. Among the roughly 7 million high school scholastic athletes, approximately 2 million injuries occur annually. Sports like soccer, basketball, and football are commonly participated in and injury research has led to some preventive measures to help make these sports safer for kids. Preventive measures may take the simple form of equipment or rule changes. But how do we get the word out about just the simple activity of safely participating in athletics and marketing to those groups who need the information the most? (parents, coaches and athletes themselves.)

The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine and its partners, including the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, National Strength and Conditioning Association, SAFE Kids USA, Sports Physical Therapy Section and the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine along with many individual hospitals, sports medicine practices and sports leagues are stirring up a grass roots movement to teach and market safe sports participation. The initiative called STOP Sports Injuries, is engaging community leaders by asking them to send out press releases to local media, giving talks on safety issues to parents and coaches, placing specialized logos of participation on websites, releasing public service announcements and have local individuals follow up with radio and TV stations and interacting on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Slowly but surely the word is getting out and the campaign is really starting to create a buzz in the sports medicine community. This type of marketing and education effort takes a lot of time and persistence but our hope is to make an impact and keep kids active and participating in sports so they can enjoy the benefits of exercise for a lifetime.

For more information or to get involved, visit our STOP Sports Injuries Web site and help share our commitment to keeping kids in the game for life. We would love to hear your suggestions for additional outreach or ways to enhance our educational efforts.

How can your organizations get involved and help market injury prevention to multiple audiences (coaches, parents, athletes and healthcare providers?