Evaluation of a Whole Community Approach to Improving Population Levels of Physical Activity

Objectives: To describe the effectiveness of a multi-strategy physical activity (PA) intervention. Methods: Self-report data from random samples were collected prior to and following intervention. Social marketing, healthcare provider, and envi-ronmental strategies were concurrently implemented with a central coordinating theme of “10,000 Steps Rockhampton. ” Results: There was evidence of significant project reach and awareness. The downward trend in PA seen in the comparison community (48.3 % to 41.9 % “active”) was not evident in Rockhampton. Women were the “early adopters ” in this project; with an increase of 5 % (95 % CI: –0.6, 10.6) in the percent categorized as “active ” (compared with decreases among women in the comparison community and among men in both communities). Conclusions: High levels of project awareness, combined with modest increases in activity levels in women, demonstrate initial project effects. Longer term inter-ventions, focusing on sustainable individual, social, and environmental change strategies are needed to maintain and improve this result