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Evaluating promising intervention to stimulate physical activity in the population.

Leemrijse, C.J., Ooms, L., Veenhof, C. Evaluating promising intervention to stimulate physical activity in the population. European Journal of Public Health: 2009, 19(suppl. 1), p. 14. Abstract. 17th European Public Health Conference 'Human Ecology and Public Health', 25–28 November 2009, Lodz (Polen).
Background: Physical inactivity involves major health risks in the Western community. In order to encourage people to adopt an active and healthy lifestyle, the Dutch government has introduced ‘The National Action Plan for Sports and Exercise (NASB)’. One of the goals of this action plan is the dissemination of successful interventions aimed at promoting an active lifestyle, specifically focussing on the less active members of the community. In the upcoming years, so called ‘inactive municipalities’ receive financial support to implement local ‘physical activity interventions’. Municipalities should be able to choose an intervention from a list of interventions, fitting the population they want to stimulate. In this study, an inventory of interventions was made. Methods: Through several sources, physical activity interventions were recruited for the study. A list of criteria related to relevance, theoretical basis, effectiveness, costs and feasibility of physical activity interventions was developed, based on (inter)national literature. The interventions were assessed with this list of criteria and an overview was made for municipalities (http:// www.nasb.nl). Interventions were categorized into ‘leaders’, ‘pursuers’ and ‘pack’. After 6 months, representatives of municipalities were asked for their opinion on this overview. Results: Fifty-three relevant Interventions were found. Of the eight leaders, not only relevance and feasibility had high scores, but effectiveness was also established by means of scientific research. The 12 pursuers scored high on feasibility, while effectiveness was not investigated yet. For the other 33 interventions (pack), several improvements were necessary. Preliminary results show that municipalities were positive about the overview presented and made use of it, selecting interventions for their population. Conclusion: There are many interventions available, but these are only moderately founded. Further studies into the theoretical basis and effectiveness of interventions aimed at enhancing physical activity are needed.