Promoting Physical Activity and Quality of Life in Vitoria, Brazil: Evaluation of the Exercise Orientation Service (EOS) Program

Abstract

Exposure to the program was not associated with QoL but was consistently associated with sufficient levels of LTPA among adults from Vitoria, Brazil.

Assessing Participation in Community-Based Physical Activity Programs in Brazil

“…Data were obtained from three previous studies conducted in the Brazilian cities of Curitiba, Vitoria, and Recife; all state capitals are located in the southern, southeast, and northeast regions of Brazil, respectively (27,28,31,36). These cities promote community-level engagement in regular physical activity through programs with common core activities, including physical activity classes in the community delivered by physical activity instructors (e.g., physical education professionals), and use parks, plazas, and community centers as locations where physical activity can be performed (27,28,31,36).…”

“…These cities promote community-level engagement in regular physical activity through programs with common core activities, including physical activity classes in the community delivered by physical activity instructors (e.g., physical education professionals), and use parks, plazas, and community centers as locations where physical activity can be performed (27,28,31,36). Participation in these programs has been previously evaluated and shown to be consistently associated with higher levels of leisure time physical activity (LTPA) in adults (27,28,31,36). In addition, all the programs are well recognized by their communities as measured by the prevalence of adults that reported hearing about or seeing an intervention activity related to the each program (27,28,31,36).…”

“…The peer review literature has highlighted these examples as promising interventions with high potential for scaling-up and dissemination to other regions (16,17), primarily due to two reasons. First, there is a consistent positive association between participation in these programs and higher levels of physical activity (21,27,28,31,34); and second, these types of programs have been replicated in various cities from different countries (13,15,30,41), demonstrating external validity.…”

“…In Bogota, Colombia, the combination of closing the streets to motorized vehicles and the offering of free physical activity classes to the community have been implemented for more than a decade (30). In Brazil, medium- and large-sized cities have implemented physical activity classes and environmental changes to deliver programs to the population free of charge (20,21,27,28,31). The peer review literature has highlighted these examples as promising interventions with high potential for scaling-up and dissemination to other regions (16,17), primarily due to two reasons.…”

“…However, most of the evidence regarding community-based physical activity interventions is derived from cross-sectional studies (13), particularly those carried out in developing countries (27,28,31,34). In addition, limited examination of participants’ characteristics has been conducted.…”