The Effect of Disseminating Evidence-Based Interventions That Promote Physical Activity to Health Departments

OBJECTIVES: We explored the effect of disseminating evidence-based guidelines that promote physical activity on US health department organizational practices in the United States. METHODS: We implemented a quasi-experimental design to examine changes in the dissemination of suggested guidelines to promote physical activity (The Guide to Community Preventive Services) in 8 study states; the remaining states and the Virgin Islands served as the comparison group. Guidelines were disseminated through workshops, ongoing technical assistance, and the distribution of an instructional CD-ROM. The main evaluation tool was a pre- and postdissemination survey administered to state and local health department staffs (baseline n=154; follow-up n=124). RESULTS: After guidelines were disseminated through workshops, knowledge of and skill in 11 intervention-related characteristics increased from baseline to follow-up. Awareness-related characteristics tended to increase more among local respondents than among state participants. Intervention adoption and implementation showed a pattern of increase among state practitioners but findings were mixed among local respondents. CONCLUSIONS: Our exploratory study provides several dissemination approaches that should be considered by practitioners as they seek to promote physical activity in the populations they serve.