Community-based efforts to promote physical activity: A systematic review of interventions considering mode of delivery, study quality and population subgroups
Abstract
Objectives Despite the known benefits of physical activity, the majority of adults in developed countries lead sedentary lifestyles. The community setting is a promising venue for physical activity-promoting interventions. Our objectives were to investigate the effectiveness of community-based physical activity interventions by mode of delivery, study quality and to analyse intervention effectiveness in different subgroups in the population. Design We conducted a systematic literature review in Medline and other databases to identify controlled, community-based physical activity interventions published between 2001 and 2012. Methods We performed several post hoc subgroup comparisons for mode of delivery, study quality and selected population characteristics, using net per cent change in physical activity outcomes between baseline and follow-up as an effect measure. Results We identified 55 studies on exercise/walking sessions, face-to-face counselling, public campaigns and interventions by mail, the Internet and telephone presenting data on 20,532 participants. Overall, half of the studies reported positive physical activity outcomes (total net per cent change: 16.4%; p=0.159; net per cent change for high-quality studies, i.e. studies meeting more than 5 out of 7 quality criteria: 16.2%; p=0.010). Interventions using face-to-face counselling or group sessions were most effective (net per cent change: 35.0%; p=0.014). Net per cent change was also higher in studies exclusively tailored to women (27.7%; p=0.005) or specific ethnic groups (38.9%; p=0.034). Conclusions This systematic review supports the effectiveness of community-based physical activity interventions in high-quality studies. Our results suggest that interventions using personal contact as well as tailored interventions are most promising.
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Structured lifestyle interventions are effective in increasing physical activity participation and reducing the progression of chronic diseases.
“The use of structured lifestyle interventions is reported to be effective in increasing physical activity participation and reducing the progression of chronic diseases [10-12].”
From Consumer-based wearable activity trackers increase physical activity participation: systematic review and meta-analysis (2019) · cites this paper as [10]
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“…interventions should implement positive word-of-mouth recruitment, which is reported as one of the most effective methods of recruitment for community-based interventions (Bock et al., 2014) through building relationships with cross-sectoral community stakeholders and improving referral pathways.”
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“The type and intensity of physical activity interventions also appear to be an important predictor of success, such as inperson, group sessions, and those tailored for women and people of specific racial/ ethnic groups (Bock et al., 2014).”
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“…[8,21], previous studies have also indicated that aspects of the social (eg, receiving social support) [22], socioeconomic (eg, area-level income) [23], and systemic (eg, ethnicity and climate) [24,25] environment are important to consider when implementing PA interventions among (older) adults.”
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“Face-to-face group sessions (Bock et al., 2014), peer support (Gyawali et al., 2019), and the involvement of community stakeholders (e.g., teachers, park administrators, local government) were repeatedly associated with greater engagement and improved outcomes.”
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“, do not just target infants and children but also youth and adult populations) [28].”
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“Engagement in the program may have been impacted by the lack of a strong relationship with the recruitment sources [13, 50].”
- Authors
- Bock, C., Jarczok, M. N., & Litaker, D.
- Affiliations
- Heidelberg University (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Bock, Christina
- Venue
- Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-05
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 276-282
- ISSN
- 1440-2440 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2131305741
- Cited by
- 137
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 5
- FWCI
- 0.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of science and medicine in sport (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Social Sciences › Transportation › Urban Transport and Accessibility
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Keywords
- physical activity interventions, community-based intervention, sedentary lifestyle, mode of delivery, face-to-face counseling, public health campaigns, personalized interventions, intervention effectiveness, study quality, subpopulations, ethnic groups, women
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Community Participation, Female, Health Promotion, Humans, Male, Research Design, Residence Characteristics, Exercise
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