Coalition initiates new fitness program
Coalition initiates new fitness program
Goal is to spread exercise fever’ nationwide
Not content with a 33% nationwide awareness of the 1996 Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health, a national coalition has instituted major initiatives to increase both awareness and participation in physical activity one of which specifically targets the worksite.
The organization, Washington, DC-based National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity (NCPPA), recently completed a nationwide survey of 2,002 households that also showed approximately 26% of Americans are thinking about starting or trying to exercise.
NCPPA lead member organizations include: The American College of Sports Medicine; the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance; the American Heart Association; the Association for Worksite Health Promotion; the International Health Racquet and Sportsclub Association; and the National Association of Governor’s Councils on Physical Fitness and Sports.
"We plan to pilot test a physical fitness program with selected corporations in 1998 and to use that pilot test to iron out any bugs in the program as well as demonstrate the viability of these programs in increasing participation among all employees," says Paul Couzelis, PhD, senior vice president of MediFit Corporate Services in South Norwalk, CT, and a past president of AWHP. "Then, we will measure our ability to infuse it throughout the country."
The program, called AIM 2000, will unfold in three phases, says Couzelis. "First, we will begin with representative samples of businesses from certain sectors of industry," he explains.
"After that, we will be encouraging all companies nationwide to participate, after using these high-visibility companies, to get the word out. In the next phase, we will ask these companies to help promote and increase physical activity in their communities, so the change can spread throughout society. Finally, we will seek to impact state and federal policies and laws."
A model of the physical activity program has already been tested at the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at two state health departments, and a few corporations, says Couzelis. "It has not only been evaluated by the CDC but by expert panels put together by program experts across the United States; it has been well looked at," he notes.
The program is structured around a "stages of change," model where individuals who enroll indicate not only where they are in terms of readiness to change but also set a physical activity goal for themselves, usually to be achieved over a period of 12 weeks. "It will require senior executive support and peer support for participants, as well as individual and departmental incentives and organizational incentives," says Couzelis. The program’s "social marketing model," he adds, seeks to change not only individual behavior but to alter the fitness norms within the company.
Pilot-testing for AIM 2000 will begin in early 1998.
[For more information about AIM 2000, Contact: National Coalition for Promoting Physical Activity, P.O. Box 1440, Indianapolis, IN 46206-1440. Telephone: (317) 637-0349. Fax: (317) 634-7817. World Wide Web: http://www.ncppa.org/ncppa.]
Subscribe Now for Access
You have reached your article limit for the month. We hope you found our articles both enjoyable and insightful. For information on new subscriptions, product trials, alternative billing arrangements or group and site discounts please call 800-688-2421. We look forward to having you as a long-term member of the Relias Media community.