Preliminary findings of a pilot program to increase physical activity in Zion National Park

INTRODUCTION: As part of the increasing focus on improving the health of Americans, the Healthier U.S. Initiative was launched to promote the use of public lands for health promotion activities. Zion National Park (ZNP) was one of seven sites recommended to participate in a pilot study to investigate the efficacy of health promoting programs in National Parks. This study provides preliminary results of a pilot program to increase physical activity in ZNP. METHODS: Participants in this quasi-experimental study were ZNP visitors between May and October 2007 who were exposed to a media campaign based on social cognitive theory constructs. The primary outcome was trail usage detected from trail monitors pre-, during, and post-intervention. Descriptive statistics were calculated for trail usage, and a repeated-measures ANOVA was used to investigate differences in trail use by time period. RESULTS: There was not a significant difference in trail usage at any time during the monitoring time frame by day (F = 1.45, df = 1832,1,464, p > 0.26) or by month (F = 3.05, df = 5,35, p > 0.12. When examined pre-, during, and post-intervention there was still no difference observed in trail use (F = 1.05, df = 2,5, p > 0.45). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the pilot program may not have been effective at changing the physical activity behavior of ZNP visitors. Further investigation is needed to determine appropriate mediators of physical activity behavior in recreational settings.