Factors affecting the uptake of community recreation as health promotion for women on low incomes.
BACKGROUND
There have been repeated calls for research on the factors that promote the spread of successful local health promotion initiatives from one community to another. We examined the factors that affected the uptake of an initiative designed in one community to improve the health of women living below the poverty line through increased access to community recreation.


METHODS
Workshops were held in three other communities and uptake efforts were tracked for one year through follow-up site visits and telephone interviews with workshop participants.


RESULTS
Making the issue a priority, actively involving the women in planning, pooling resources, sharing responsibility through partnerships, and addressing the structural dimensions of poverty were factors that enabled uptake. Factors that inhibited uptake included an emphasis on revenue generation, professionally led planning, inadequate attention to structural barriers, the undervaluing of certain resources, and an over-reliance on one idea champion.


CONCLUSIONS
A shift in how municipal recreation departments view their role as partners in community health promotion is required if programs are to promote health and be accessible to under-served populations.
Frisby
Wendy
W
School of Human Kinetics, 210 War Memorial Gym, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1. frisby@interchange.ubc.ca
Hoeber
Larena
L
D003153:Community Health Services / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D011203:Poverty; D011998:Recreation / Q000502:physiology*; D016387:Women's Health