Physical Activity Knowledge Among US Community Health Workers

The knowledge and awareness of physical activity (PA) guidelines is limited among adults in the United States. Community health workers (CHWs) are key to promote health among underserved populations; however, little is known about their knowledge and awareness of the PA guidelines.

To assess CHW's understanding of PA, we administered the questionnaire on knowledge and awareness of the PA guidelines from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion to CHWs across the country (N = 108, Mage = 42, SD = 9.70, 86% female, 47.2% White).

While 77.6% reported recommending PA to clients, only 38% were familiar with the guidelines. The average score on the knowledge survey was low (M = 3.18, SD = 1.50) particularly for dosage-specific items: only 19.4% correctly identified the recommended weekly dose of moderate-intensity PA, 8.4% for vigorous-intensity, and 24.3% for muscle-strengthening activities. Chi-square analyses showed no statistically significant difference in PA knowledge across demographic groups, but those who reported having familiarity with PA guidelines were more likely to correctly respond to the questions on dosage of moderate- (P = .02) and vigorous-intensity PA (P = .02), and muscle strengthening (P = .02). These results highlight a gap in CHWs' knowledge of PA guidelines.

Given their frontline role in health promotion, increasing CHWs' education on PA guidelines may improve their capacity to effectively promote PA. Future research may consider increasing education on PA among CHWs and examine how this may translate to increased PA participation among the communities they serve.