You may have noticed some “activity” on social media over the last couple of weeks. And at a global scale…
First, on the 10th November ISPAH (the International Society for Physical Activity) released the 8 Eight Investments That Work for Physical Activity. Commonly known as the “8 Best Investments” this resource outlines investments supported by good evidence of effectiveness that work to support and promote physical activity. It is organised into 8 key areas including active travel, urban design, and community-wide approaches. The 8 Investments can be viewed as a way of implementing the World Health Organisation’s Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (GAPPA) released last year, which is in essence a set of policy actions to promote physical activity.
Then, on 25th November the World Health Organisation released their updated Guidelines on Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour. This was supported by a tranche of academic papers including the science behind the new guidelines, cross-country comparisons, and consideration of effective guideline communication strategies.
These new guidelines are largely similar to the previous 2010 version, but contain some key developments. As outlined by Ding and colleagues these include more focus on mental health and well-being, recommendations for pregnant and post-partum women and those living with chronic conditions, dropping the 10 minute bout requirement to be replaced with “some is better than none”, and general recommendation to reduce sedentary time.
So, this is all well and good. But why is it important to professionals across Scotland who help deliver local physical activity and walking projects and programmes?
First, these related publications help keep physical activity on the agenda as a best buy for protecting and supporting physical, social and mental health. They help form an important resource for public and policy advocacy. They come with the legitimacy of global institutions and are backed by high quality and up to date science. If you are still trying to persuade or convince people to invest time or resources in physical activity they may add weight to your arguments.
Of course, to do this we need to find effective sharing and dissemination approaches. The 8 Investments document is 20 pages long and the WHO Guidelines is 104 pages. There is a small chance that our audiences, especially those not convinced that physical activity is a priority will not be keen to read these weighty tomes. ISPAH and WHO recognise this so there are more digestible videos, podcasts and infographics, a Conversation article, and this 50 second YouTube video that may be more useful resources for sharing.
Second, when it comes to promoting physical activity and walking to the general public, and more specifically encouraging potential participants to join your programmes, groups and services, the new WHO guidelines are now better suited to public communication.
Work from our research centre led by Chloe Williamson has shown that effective physical activity communication should focus on the short term benefits (e.g. mood and mental well-being) and be tailored and targeted to intended recipients. The new WHO guidelines now include a focus on these positive outcomes (rather than just avoiding disease later on) and the inclusion of pregnant and post-partum women and those living with chronic conditions allows us to communicate and share information that can be more relevant to more people.
Third, the 8 investments forms a useful “framework” for showing where your work may fit in the bigger picture. It emphasises that there are no silver bullets, but rather community and population physical activity promotion should be seen as the “sum of its parts”. A wide and varied range of promotion activities across multiple sectors and for multiple population groups is legitimised and supported, rather than a misguided search for the single best or most effective intervention. This may be very powerful when it comes to telling the story of the contribution and role your project or programme plays.
So in summary, ISPAH’s 8 Investments and WHO’s new guidelines provide up to date and legitimate science for advocacy, a more communication and promotion friendly set of information and a framework to show how your work fits in a community-wide approach or 'whole-systems' approach. There are of course many other ways these recent releases may help, but hopefully the above suggestions are a useful starting point. As stated about the Guidelines themselves, their existence alone is not enough – understanding how to utilise and communicate them is the key.
If you'd like to discuss this further please feel free to get in touch at p.kelly@ed.ac.uk.
Written by Dr Paul Kelly, Reader in Physical Activity for Health at the University of Edinburgh and Director at Paths for All. Follow his work on Twitter @narrowboat_paul.