Promoting Physical Activity

A Guide for Community Action

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Centers for Disease Control
1999
US Price: $38
408 pages
9780736001526

Table of Contents | Words of Praise

We now know that moderate amounts of physical activity are essential for good health, and yet only 40% of our population are regularly physically active. What can you do as a professional to help people become physically active, not only for tomorrow, but for a lifetime?

It's no easy task to get people out of their cars and onto their bikes; out of the elevators and onto the stairs; out of their offices and onto the walking paths. Changing people's behavior is never easy. But Promoting Physical Activity, the CDC's new guide for community action, will help you do so. It is a practical reference, logically organized, and loaded with useful information.

The guide begins by clearly explaining the benefits of physical activity and how to achieve a moderately active lifestyle. Next you'll learn step-by-step strategies for increasing the probability of individuals becoming physically active. You'll also find numerous ideas for specific actions you can take to promote physical activity in your community, worksite, and school. The book's Resources for Action section contains website addresses and contact information for dozens of relevant agencies, organizations, and programs across the country, as well as other resources that will help you offer successful physical activity promotional programs.

Promoting Physical Activity equips you to reach out to the physically inactive people in your community and get them excited about physical activity. Drawing on the latest theories for changing behavior, this innovative resource shows you how to find out what matters most to the people you want to help. By learning to focus on their perceptions and by understanding the barriers that keep them from being active, you'll be able to create physical activity programs that your specific audience wants, needs, and is ready for. Then they'll be motivated to make active choices in their daily lives.

Whether you've just become interested in promoting physical activity or are an experienced professional looking for ways to improve existing programs, this user-friendly guide has something for you:

• Creative, fresh ideas for promoting physical activity in your community, workplace, school, or health care facility
• Practical examples of situations similar to those you may face, drawn from a variety of settings
• Advice on forming successful partnerships with other community organizations
• Helpful hints on how to create a positive environment where physical activity is accessible, safe, affordable, and fun
• Extensive information on sources you can turn to for additional help

Promoting Physical Activity is a treasure chest of useful information for all professionals concerned with improving our public's health. Whether you're a full-time health promotion professional, an administrator or practitioner who provides intervention programs, an educator who teaches about active living, or a health care professional, you'll find this terrific new resource indispensable.

Table of Contents

• A National Call to Action
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I: Foundations for Physical Activity Promotion
  • Chapter 1. Understanding the Power of Physical Activity
  • Chapter 2. Achieving a Moderately Active Lifestyle
• Part II: Strategies for Changing Physical Activity Behavior
  • Chapter 3. Targeting Your Efforts
  • Chapter 4. Understanding the Basics of Behavior Change
  • Chapter 5. Strengthening Individual Intention to Change
  • Chapter 6. Creating a Supportive Environment
• Part III: Planning and Implementing Your Intervention
  • Chapter 7. Setting Objectives and Measuring Success
  • Chapter 8. Working With Partners
  • Chapter 9. Ideas for Action in the Worksite
  • Chapter 10. Ideas for Action in the Schools
• Appendix A. Organizations and Selected Materials for Promoting Physical Activity
• Appendix B. Physical Activity and Health: A Report of the Surgeon General
• Appendix C. Target Audience for CDC's Physical Activity Initiative
• Appendix D. Highlights from 1995 Focus Group Results: CDC's Nutrition and Physical Activity Communication Campaign
• Appendix E. Selected Organizations and Agencies Concerned With Persons With Disabilities
• Appendix F. Americans With Disabilities Act
• Appendix G. National Days or Months: Opportunities for Physical Activity Promotion
• Appendix H. Healthy Communities 2000: Model Standards
• References
• Index

Words of Praise

"Well thought out, practical, and user-friendly-I love it! It's always an inspiration to do more when we have such technical assistance to support our efforts."

Marge Hamrell
Chief of Health Promotion
Department of Health, Epidemiology and Disease Prevention
State of Vermont

Audiences

Resource for state and local governments; transportation, health, and community planners; exercise specialists and health professionals; community groups; businesses; schools; colleges and universities; recreational programs and community leagues; social service organizations; and any other professionals or volunteers who wish to promote physical activity and healthier lifestyles in their community, agency, or organization.