Behavioral and Healthy Lifestyle Changes after Implementation of a Walking Program among Teachers at an Elementary School

Health experts are recommending an average of 10,000 steps daily to attain certain health benefits and suggesting the use of pedometers for calculating ambulatory activity, such as walking. A 13-week, worksite walking program was implemented with teachers at an elementary school providing pedometers, weekly walking groups, bimonthly supplemental nutrition information, and a survey upon program completion to evaluate the effectiveness. Results showed that of the 31.3% that participated, 93.6% have tried to increase their daily activity in the past and 58.1% found the Bee Active walking program to be more effective than previous attempts. Participants reported that wearing the pedometer helped motivate more physical activity and increase total daily steps taken. For non-participants (63.6%), schedule conflicts and lack of time were the top two participation barriers. As a result of providing the bimonthly nutritional information, both participants and non-participants have attempted to make healthier food choices, while increasing their daily consumption of fruits and vegetables significantly