Barb Ainsworth, Director
Fran Wheeler, Deputy Director
Regina Fields, Newsletter Editor (RMFields@sc.edu)

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NEWS YOU CAN USE: New Year’s Resolutions, Exercise and Aging, Workshop Grants, Looking Ahead

RESEARCH NOTES: Physical Activity and Behavioral Medicine, Physical Activity Interventions, Rural Vs. Urban

REPORTS, SURVEYS, GUIDELINES, ETC.: National Arthritis Action Plan

UPCOMING CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS: Abstract Submission for APHA, Minority Health

WEBSITES OF INTEREST: Just Move, Social Marketing, Asthma Management Website

USC PREVENTION RESEARCH CENTER UPDATE: New Staff

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NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS: Want to make your New Year’s Resolution stick this time around? Dr. Michael Sachs at Temple University recommends that you get "SMART." In an article in Prevention Magazine, Dr. Sachs says that resolutions should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timebound. For example, if you’ve resolved to lose 20 pounds, break that down into intermediate, realistic goals of two pounds per month. If you’ve resolved to "get in shape," decide what that means to you: being able to run a mile? Being able to do a certain number of push-ups? And if you don’t follow through on your resolution immediately, don’t wait until next year to make a new one, Dr. Sachs says.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY INTERVENTIONS: The theme of the November 1998 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine was "Physical Activity Interventions." Articles came out of work done before and after the 1997 Cooper Institute/American College of Sports Medicine conference on Physical Activity Interventions. Most articles review existing literature on the topic, discuss the issues, and make recommendations for research and practice. Articles include:

Integrating Theoretical Approaches to Promote Physical Activity (L. Epstein): "Behavioral choice theory is presented as an example of one theoretical approach that bridges different approaches to physical activity intervention, and that can stimulate both basic and applied research on physical activity."

Mediating Variable Framework in Physical Activity Interventions (T. Baranowski, C. Anderson, C. Carmack): "To increase the effectiveness of physical activity interventions, more physical activity research should focus on a better understanding on the predictors of physical activity and toward interventions demonstrated to effect change in these predictors of physical activity."

Effects of Physical Activity Interventions in Youth (E. Stone, T. McKenzie, G. Welk, M. Booth): "This paper reviews studies of physical activity in school and community settings among preschool through college-aged persons to determine characteristics and effects of interventions."

Physical Activity Interventions Targeting Older Adults (A. King, J. Rejeski, D. Buchner): "The present review underscores a number of gaps in the current physical activity intervention literature for this important population segment that are in critical need of further attention and systematic investigation."

Physical Activity Interventions in Low-Income, Ethnic Minority, and Populations with Disability (W. Taylor, T. Baranowski, D. Rohm Young): "Much work remains to develop effective interventions for these populations. Research that involves the community at all steps in the design and implementation of the intervention shows greatest promise for promoting behavior change."

Worksite Physical Activity Interventions (R. Dishman, B. Oldenburg, H. O’Neal, R. Shephard): "Our results indicate that the typical worksite intervention has yet to demonstrate a statistically significant increase in physical activity or fitness….The generally poor scientific quality of the literature on this topic precludes the judgment that interventions at worksites cannot increase physical activity…."

Physical Activity Interventions Using Mass Media, Print Media, and Information Technology (B. Marcus, N. Owen, L. Forsyth, N. Cavill, F. Fridinger): "….mass media campaigns had very little impact on physical activity behavior….Studies in which there were more contacts and interventions tailored to the target audience were most effective."

Environmental and Policy Interventions to Promote Physical Activity (J. Sallis, A. Bauman, M. Pratt): "Cross-sectional data indicate that environmental and policy variables are associated with physical activity behaviors of young people and adults….Lack of conceptual models and the inherent difficulties of evaluation have hampered research on environmental and policy interventions."

Lifestyle Physical Activity Interventions (A. Dunn, R. Andersen, J. Jakicic): "Lifestyle physical activity interventions are effective at increasing and maintaining levels of physical activity…in previously sedentary adults and obese children."

Effects of Interventions in Health Care Settings on Physical Activity or Cardiorespiratory

Fitness (D. Simons-Morton, K. Calfas, B. Oldenburg, N. Burton): "Interventions in health care settings can increase physical activity….Long-term effects are more likely with continuing intervention and multiple intervention components such as supervised exercise, provision of equipment, and behavioral approaches."

See the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 1998, 15(4).

RURAL VS. URBAN: Physical inactivity was found to be more prevalent in rural areas than in urban areas, in an analysis of the 1996 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) conducted the CDC. This pattern was more pronounced in the South than in other parts of the U.S. The fact that residents of rural areas in this study were older, less educated, and poorer than residents of urban areas only partly explains the difference. After adjusting for these factors, the difference in physical inactivity levels remained. One limitation to the study is that the BRFSS survey does not ask about physical activity at work, which may vary from rural to urban areas. The editors note, "Recognizing regional and urban-rural differences is an important first step toward developing and tailoring interventions to increase physical activity in specific settings." See Self-Reported Physical Inactivity by Degree of Urbanization – United States, 1996. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, December 25, 1998/47(50);1097-1100.

REPORTS, SURVEYS AND GUIDELINES

NEW STAFF: The Prevention Research Center welcomes a new staff member, Linda Neff, as our new Physical Activity Epidemiologist. Linda earned a Master of Science in Public Health in Epidemiology from the University of South Carolina, and is completing a Doctorate in Epidemiology at USC. Her past work includes a preliminary study on intergenerational patterns of physical activity, and her interests are in examining the determinants of physical activity and in physical activity assessment methodology.

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This and past issues of the "University of South Carolina Prevention Research Center Notes" are available at our website, http://prevention.sph.sc.edu. If you have an item you’d like to share, please contact Regina Fields at RMFields@sc.edu.