Behavioral Interventions to Increase Physical Activity

There is growing evidence that physical inactivity poses a significant risk for heart disease, colon cancer, depression, osteoporosis, obesity, diabetes and hypertension (Lewis & Lynch, 1993). In spite of these risks up to 60 percent of Americans are physically inactive (Eaton et al., 1999), indicating that physical inactivity poses a significant public health problem. There are many different interventions utilized to increase physical activity. This manuscript outlines three different types of interventions used to increase physical activity: Interventions in general practice, worksite interventions and community based interventions. Recommendations for further research are also discussed. Searches for the articles contained in this article were conducted using the following databases: Medline, Healthstar, Sociofile, Psychlit, Socifile, Social Work Abstracts, and Expanded Academic Index

MEDLINE · Obesity · Physical activity · Physical therapy · Psychiatry · Psychological intervention · Public health · Health and Lifestyle Studies · Medicine · Nursing · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet · Physical Activity and Health · Psychology · Gerontology

• Community education for cardiovascular disease prevention

  Russell V Luepker, David M Murray et al.•American Journal of Public Health•1994

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