Evaluation of active living research: ten years of progress in building a new field

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Active Living Research (ALR) program commissioned an evaluation of its initiative to assess 10 years (2001-2011) of progress in establishing a new interdisciplinary field to develop and translate research focused on policy and environmental factors affecting physical activity in children and families.

The second-phase evaluation (ALR-2) was conducted from March to July 2011 to measure progression from evidence- and field-building (Goals 1 and 2) to policy and practice contributions (Goal 3) to inform childhood obesity strategies, and to develop recommendations for a third phase (ALR-3).

The evaluation was a retrospective, in-depth descriptive study utilizing qualitative and quantitative methods. Key informant interviews (N=100) across seven stakeholder groups were conducted and analyzed in 2011. Data from web-based surveys of grantee investigators conducted from 2007 to 2011 and analyzed in 2011 served as the primary quantitative source.

Key indicators of ALR's overall progress confirmed ALR's success across its three goals: (1) establishing a strong research base: 309 publications filling major knowledge gaps; (2) building an interdisciplinary and diverse field: grantees represented 31 disciplines, with more than one quarter (28%) of investigators having ≤5 years of experience, of which 39% were people of color; and (3) using research to inform policy and practice: 62 examples, of which slightly more than one half (n=32) resulted in actual policy or practice change.

Overall, ALR met its three goals during ALR-2 and was well positioned to implement a third phase of the program to further accelerate the translation of its research into policy and practice.