WV Walks: replication with expanded reach

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Promotion
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Community-wide campaigns can effectively promote physical activity.
• Replicating successful interventions is crucial for validating public health strategies.
• The Wheeling Walks campaign provided a successful model for promoting physical activity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To replicate the Wheeling Walks campaign methodology in a new community.
• To assess the effectiveness of a social marketing intervention on physical activity.
• To evaluate the generalizability of the Wheeling Walks intervention to other rural communities.

Main Methods:

• A social marketing intervention targeting insufficiently active adults aged 40-65.
• Utilized participatory planning, an 8-week mass media campaign, and policy/environmental changes.
• Employed pre- and post-intervention telephone surveys in intervention and comparison regions.

Main Results:

• Maximal message awareness achieved in the intervention region.
• Significant increase in walking behavior: 12% shift from inactive to active.
• Policy and environmental changes were observed, supporting behavior change.

Conclusions:

• The WV Walks campaign successfully replicated the positive effects of the Wheeling Walks intervention.
• The findings suggest the intervention is generalizable to similar rural communities.
• Community-wide physical activity interventions can lead to measurable improvements in population health.