title: Effect of community health education on physical activity knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. The Stanford Five-City Project.
abstract: The authors studied the effectiveness of community-wide health education on physical activity knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy, and behavior. Random samples of residents aged 18-74 years who lived in four central California cities (baseline, n = 1,056 men and 1,183 women) were evaluated in 1979-1980 and approximately every 2 years thereafter to obtain four independent samples. Moreover, every subject in the initial independent samples was asked to return for follow-up every 2 years thereafter; subjects who completed all four examinations constituted the cohort sample (n = 408 men and 499 women). Two medium-sized cities received health education and two similarly sized cities served as controls. Results indicated little consistent evidence of a treatment effect on physical activity knowledge, attitudes, or self-efficacy in either men or women. Among physical activity measures, there was an indication of a positive treatment effect for men in the independent samples for estimated daily energy expenditure and percent participation in vigorous activities (p < 0.01), and for women in the independent (p = 0.014) and cohort (p < 0.01) samples for engagement in the number of moderate activities. These results underscore the need for development of more effective interventions to change physical activity than is provided by a broad-based, community-wide health education program and for more sensitive and reliable measures of knowledge, attitudes, and behavior with regard to physical activity.
authors.affiliation: Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94304, USA.
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Haskell
authors.forename: C B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Fortmann
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002140:California; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D005082:Physical Exertion; D011897:Random Allocation; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data