title: Newspaper coverage effects on the promotion of a lifestyle intervention program.
abstract: The study's purpose was to measure the impact of an individually designed lifestyle intervention program on the readers of a regional newspaper. A newspaper with 180,000 daily readers covered a story about three untrained and overweight adults who participated in an individually designed lifestyle intervention program. Their goals were to become physically fit and run a half marathon (21.1 km) after 14 weeks of training. The newspaper published on average three weekly articles throughout the project period, including the weekly training program and a record of the physical improvements made by the participants. The number of hits on the project's web site was recorded. Spin-off effects on the responses of readers were mapped. The project's web site had 25,000 unique weekly hits. Significant spin-off effects included the establishment of training groups which were still active after two years and the launch of a similar project by another regional newspaper. This individually designed lifestyle intervention program was successfully scaled up and reached a large number of the newspaper's readers. The collaboration between a newspaper and exercise researchers could also be adapted to other press media and represents a novel approach to improve participation in physical activities.
authors: Department of Education and Sport Science, University of Stavanger, 4036 Stavanger, Norway.
authors: Sindre M
authors: SM
authors: Dyrstad
authors: Leif I
authors: LI
authors: Tjelta
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003153:Community Health Services; D003256:Community Participation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D009524:Newspapers as Topic; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D010809:Physical Fitness; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D015431:Weight Loss