Goals and Objectives
Our media-based community physical activity campaign intended to:
- effectively communicate the walking message to 85% of the target population;
- increase regular moderate-intensity walking behavior in the target population by 10%;
- effect community ownership for the campaign;
- effect environmental and policy changes supportive of regular moderate intensity walking;
- effect population wide positive changes in attitudes, beliefs, and intentions about walking, and sustain the community and population changes at six and twelve months post-intervention.
Assessing Success--Evaluation Methodology
Two measures were used to determine the impact of the campaign on the community:(1) telephone surveys, and (2) behavioral observations, in both Wheeling and in a comparison community (where there was no campaign). There were four evaluation periods: before we started the campaign (baseline), immediately after the intensive eight-week intervention (immediately post-intervention), and at six month and twelve months post-intervention. The evaluation framework is briefly explained in the insert below.
WHEELING WALKS Evaluation MethodologyTwo methods used to evaluate the campaign: (2) trained observer counts of the number of adult walkers for two hours per day for one week at baseline, immediately post-, six months post , and 12 months post-intervention in both communities. The observations extended for a total of 14 hours per week at five predetermined popular walking sites, for a total of 70 hours at each time point for each of the two communities. Observers recorded: (1) total number of walkers, (2) gender of walkers, (3) number walking alone, (4) number walking in a group. Observers did not differentiate walkers based on pace. For data analysis, walking observation data were analyzed using a repeated measures ANOVA with four time periods (baseline, immediately post intervention, six months post , 12 months year post-intervention) as the within group factor, and city as the between-group factor. A specific contrast test within the repeated measures analysis was conducted. The telephone survey questionnaire data was analyzed by conducting z tests on the difference between proportions. Tests of statistical significance were determined by use of chi square analyses. For all analyses, two tailed tests were used with 0.05 as the alpha level. All analyses were performed by the statistical package SYSTAT. |
WHEELING WALKS Project Timetable
Our intervention was a four-year (1999-2002), three-phase project. The activities of each phase are:
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PHASE ONE (July 1,1999 to June 30, 2000) – Conduct a Community Participatory Planning Program, establish a community advisory committee, pursue grant sources, select media producers, developing protocols, and identify staff and consultants.
PHASE TWO (July 1, 2000 to March 30, 2001) -- Conduct formative research; produce the campaign ads (two 30-second television ads, two 60-second radio ads, and two print ads); develop informational materials; plan for public relations and community-based educational activities; and finalize the evaluative framework for the campaign.
PHASE THREE (April 1, 2001 to December 31, 2002) -- Implement and evaluate the WHEELING WALKS media-based community walking campaign; data entry and analysis; interpretation of results; and preparation of the final report, articles, and replication package.