Attività
Physical Activity, Obesity and Health
What can be done, at social-environmental level, to implement the desired lifestyle changes in every day life?
Susanna Morgante, Massimo Valsecchi, Lucia De Noni, Silvana Manservisi,
Dipartimento di Prevenzione, ULSS 20, Verona
Lifestyle factors related to physical activity play a major role in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, obesity, cancer and other pathologic conditions. Until recently, research focused mainly on identifying individual determinants of lifestyle, failing to consider the context within which health behaviour takes place. Evidence indicating the importance of social and environmental factors has been reported by many researchers, however, and a urging need is growing to implement new strategies of intervention in order to influence these factors which can represent an important obstacle to desired lifestyle changes. Therefore, since 1999 the authors developed a community-based program that aims to improve health status by means of an integrated socio-environmental intervention accordingly with international public health guidelines on physical activity promotion. Such intervention includes the following activities:
- Advocacy: synthetizing and spreading existing knowledge on physical activity and health, and collaborating with local policy-makers, institutions and stakeholders on physical activity-related themes.
- Motor activity classes and walking groups for seniors and diabetics.
- Urbanistic intervention: collaborating with Verona and surrounding municipalities to reduce pollution, increase free access green areas and cycling trails, reorganize traffic and transport, implement and promote walking trails in urban green areas.
- “Pedibus” (Kids-walk-to-school week): during one week children walked to school in groups together with environmental associations activists, bringing written material which explained what they were doing and encouraging children and their parents to walk and cycle to school.
- Physical activity resources map: tracking physical activity resources and facilities (data have been collected for public facilities, while the second phase, involving private resources mapping, will begin soon); these data will be shared with local practitioners, media and the whole community.
- Intervention on general practitioners: to overcome misconcepts against the importance and the efficacy of physical activity counselling within general practice, group sessions were held by experts in this area for 18 general practitioners who subsequently were involved in educating 80 collegues about physical activity promotion.
- Public Health Regional Policy Plan (Veneto) for 2002/04 (Project on “Motor activity, sport and disease prevention ” - Reference Centre: Dipartimento di Prevenzione ULSS 20): in each of the 21 regional districts public health practitioners have been ingaged in building an operating network (local diabetologists, patient associations, municipalities, policy-makers and physical trainers) to promote physical activity.
