How to get a nation walking: reach, retention, participant characteristics and program implications of Heart Foundation Walking, a nationwide Australian community-based walking program Ball, Kylie, Abbott, Gavin, Wilson, Michelle, Chisholm, Melanie and Sahlqvist, Shannon 2017, How to get a nation walking: reach, retention, participant characteristics and program implications of Heart Foundation Walking, a nationwide Australian community-based walking program, International journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, vol. 14, pp. 1-10, doi: 10.1186/s12966-017-0617-5. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads ball-howtogetanation-2017.pdf Published version application/pdf 624.11KB 3 Title How to get a nation walking: reach, retention, participant characteristics and program implications of Heart Foundation Walking, a nationwide Australian community-based walking program Author(s) Ball, Kylie orcid.org/0000-0003-2893-8415 Abbott, Gavin orcid.org/0000-0003-4014-0705 Wilson, Michelle Chisholm, Melanie Sahlqvist, Shannon orcid.org/0000-0002-3714-9533 Journal name International journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity Volume number 14 Article ID 161 Start page 1 End page 10 Total pages 10 Publisher BioMed Central Place of publication London, Eng. Publication date 2017-11-21 ISSN 1479-5868 1479-5868 Keyword(s) Community Program Reach Retention Socioeconomic Walking Adolescent Adult Aged Aged, 80 and over Australia Body Mass Index Body Weight Cross-Sectional Studies Exercise Female Health Behavior Health Promotion Interpersonal Relations Male Middle Aged Motivation Obesity Overweight Risk Factors Socioeconomic Factors Young Adult Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Nutrition & Dietetics Physiology INCREASE PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY PROMOTE WALKING INTERVENTIONS ATTRITION METAANALYSIS ADHERENCE PEOPLE RATES Summary BACKGROUND: Community-based walking programs represent a low-cost, accessible approach to increasing physical activity among inactive adults. However, recruiting participants from vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups remains a challenge. This study examined the reach, retention, sociodemographic and health characteristics, physical activity levels and motivators of participants in Heart Foundation Walking, a nationwide Australian community-based walking program. METHODS: Descriptive cross-sectional analyses were undertaken with data from 22,416 participants aged 15+ years in the Heart Foundation Walking registration database in December 2015, and from four surveys of participants in 2010 (n = 2400), 2011 (n = 3274), 2012 (n = 4158) and 2015 (n = 1890). RESULTS: Heart Foundation Walking reached participants in every geographic region of Australia, including remote and sparsely populated regions, and engaged sizeable proportions of the following at-risk participants: older than 60 years (>70%); with very low incomes (17-25%); who were overweight or obese (around 60%); and with one or more chronic disease or disease risk factors (57-81%). For all demographic groups, one-year retention rates were at least 75%. Seventy percent of participants met physical activity recommendations. Over 75% reported joining the program for health and fitness reasons while the most cited motivator for continuing was the social aspect (57-73%). CONCLUSIONS: Volunteer-run, group-based walking programs can have substantial reach and retention, in particular among those at risk for physical inactivity. The provision of opportunities for social interaction appears to be a key program element in promoting long-term participation, including among high-risk groups. Language eng DOI 10.1186/s12966-017-0617-5 Field of Research 11 Medical And Health Sciences 13 Education HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal ERA Research output type C Journal article Copyright notice ©2017, The Authors Free to Read? Yes Use Rights Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30109026 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research Open Access Collection Related Links Link Description Connect to published version (open access) Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au. 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Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au.