A physical activity and nutrition community intervention called the Oxford Hills Healthy Moms (OHHM) Project was developed using a multifaceted social marketing process, including review of state surveillance results, key informant interviews, and a survey and focus group discussions with low-socioeconomic-status (low-SES) mothers. This formative work was used to make key decisions on the selection of the intervention region, segmentation of the audience, and design of intervention strategies addressing multiple levels of the socioecological model. The OHHM Project aims to increase fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity levels among low-SES mothers in the Oxford Hills region of Maine. The OHHM Project includes five components: (a) physical activity buddy program, (b) cooking club with education, (c) fruit and vegetable discount buying club with education, (d) increased access to produce vendors, and (e) increased access to places for physical activity.
Background:Physical activity has emerged as a vital area of public health. This emerging area of public health practice has created a need to develop practitioners who can address physical activity promotion using population-based approaches. Variations in physical activity practitioners' educations and backgrounds warranted the creation of minimal standards to establish the competencies needed to address physical activity as a public health priority.Methods:The content knowledge of physical activity practitioners tends to fall into 2 separate areas—population-based community health education and individually focused exercise physiology. Competencies reflect the importance of a comprehensive approach to physical activity promotion, including areas of community health while also understanding the physiologic responses occurring at the individual level.Results:Competencies are organized under the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's 5 benchmarks for physical activity and public health practice.Conclusions:The greatest impact on physical activity levels may be realized from a well-trained workforce of practitioners. Utilization of the competencies will enable the physical activity practitioner to provide technical assistance and leadership to promote, implement, and oversee evaluation of physical activity interventions.
Examining disparities at one point in time discounts disparity change over time. The DCS can help identify large disparities that are worsening and toward which resources for targeted interventions can be redirected. New Mexico should consider interventions for the five key disparities identified in this study.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.