Back to Annual Meeting

Back to Annual Meeting

APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Danielle R. Brittain, PhD, College of Kinesiology, University of Saskatchewan, 87 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5B2, Canada, 306-966-1106, dani.brittain@usask.ca, Karen Chad, PhD, Office of Vice-President Research, University of Saskatchewan, 201.1 College Building, 107 Administration Place, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A2, Canada, and Linda D. Martin, BRS, in motion, Saskatoon Health Region, 701 Queen Street, Saskatoon City Hospital, Saskatoon, SK S7K 0M7, Canada.

Although participation in regular physical activity results in numerous health benefits, the majority of American and Canadian adults and children are not physically active at sufficient levels to achieve these health benefits. Clearly, a need exists for innovative interventions to address physical inactivity. Given this, it is imperative to extend traditional individual level focused interventions to adopt a social ecological approach, which addresses behavior change at multiple levels. Concurrent with this paradigm shift is the recognition that creating and maintaining changes in the health status of a population requires creative partnerships between communities and university-based researchers. Building on this rationale, Saskatoon in motion, a health promotion community mobilization initiative, was designed to serve as a foundation for community-focused research and intervention by integrating the knowledge of community-based organizations with university-based researchers, to promote physical activity within Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (a typical midsize Canadian city). This study provides an overview of the longitudinal effectiveness of the federally funded Saskatoon in motion initiative on the integration of physical activity into the various facets of daily life, of citizens of Saskatoon. To measure the effectiveness of Saskatoon in motion, a representative cross-section of Saskatoon residents aged five years and older completed surveys at Baseline (2000) (n = 1446), Year Two (2002) (n = 1700), and Year Four (2004) (n = 1260). Multiple independent t-tests revealed significant increases in physical activity between all three time periods. Findings suggest a social ecological approach is effective in initiating and sustaining the mobilization of an entire community.

Learning Objectives:

• To discuss successful strategies to establishing and maintaining community-university partnerships.
• To discuss methods utilized by a community-university partnership to effectively address physical inactivity.

Keywords: Community Research, Physical Activity

Related Web page: www.inmotion.ca

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered