Development of Toolkits to Promote Physical Activity: Collaboration of Research and Practice

Background: Physical activity (PA) is an important behavior for health promotion and disease prevention, yet the majority of Americans do not achieve recommended levels. For the past several decades, researchers have been developing tools and resources to help improve population levels of PA, yet there remains a disconnect between research and on-the-ground practice. The purpose of this presentation is to describe the collaborative development of two toolkits for expanding the dissemination and use of resources to improve population PA.

Methods:  Through the Physical Activity Policy Research Network (PAPRN), researchers along with state and local practitioners worked to develop a toolkit to facilitate the development of state and local physical activity plans.  Similarly, the team worked with a state program in Kansas to develop a toolkit for lay physical activity champions.

Results: The toolkits contain a wealth of resources for deeper study and were created to be readable, easily navigable and appealing. Both toolkits contain links to existing resources, with brief descriptions of the available tool and are presented in a visually engaging layout with plenty of white space, photos and content to download and adapt. 

Discussion: These toolkits are an example of taking research to practice and represent an effective resource for researchers to communicate information to physical activity practitioners.  Next steps will include gathering indicator data that meaningfully addresses our evaluation questions. We will also expand and target dissemination to a variety of transdisciplinary groups important to physical activity planning in states and communities.