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. 2016 Jun;87(2):207-13.
doi: 10.1080/02701367.2016.1146942. Epub 2016 Mar 9.

Evaluation of the Physical Activity and Public Health Course for Practitioners

Kelly R Evenson  1 , David R Brown  2 , Emily Pearce  1 , Ricky Camplain  1 , Jan Jernigan  2 , Jacqueline Epping  2 , Dennis M Shepard  3 , Joan M Dorn  2
Affiliations

Evaluation of the Physical Activity and Public Health Course for Practitioners

Kelly R Evenson et al. Res Q Exerc Sport. 2016 Jun.

Abstract

Purpose: From 1996 to 2013, a 6-day Physical Activity and Public Health Course for Practitioners has been offered yearly in the United States. An evaluation was conducted to assess the impact of the course on building public health capacity for physical activity and on shaping the physical activity and public health careers of fellows since taking the courses.

Method: An evaluation quantified time that fellows spent in different course offerings and surveyed fellows.

Results: From 1996 to 2012, 410 fellows attended the course, and in 2013, 186 participated in the Web-based survey (56% response rate). The number of fellows attending the course ranged from 15 to 33 yearly. From 1996 to 2012, the course averaged 38 hr of instructional time that included topics on interventions and environment/policy work to increase physical activity, program evaluation, public health research, and health disparities. The course included consultations, collaborative work, and field-based experiences. Fellows who participated in the survey agreed that the course had a positive impact on the physical activity research or practice work they did (98%), met their expectations (96%), helped them with research/practice collaborations with other physical activity professionals (96%), assisted them in conducting higher-quality interventions/programs (95%), helped increase their professional networking in the field (93%), and had a positive impact on other work they did (91%). Following the course, 66% and 56% had further contact with faculty and other fellows, respectively.

Conclusion: The Physical Activity and Public Health Course for Practitioners made important contributions toward building the capacity of physical activity and public health practitioners.

Keywords: Exercise; knowledge; policy; training.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The University of South Carolina, which administers the course, provided factual information when asked, but did not participate in instrument development, data collection, or analysis. Following analysis, the practitioner course lead (Dennis Shepard) provided feedback on the manuscript draft. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) coauthors (Brown, Dorn, Epping, and Jernigan) provided input on the evaluation design and instrument development. Two authors attended the course as fellows (Dorn in 1995 and Evenson in 1998). The CDC provided the Physical Activity and Public Health course with funding and faculty support since its inception. The CDC authors have a potential conflict of interest in that they have a vested interest in, and may benefit (not financially) from positive findings of the present study. The CDC authors do not have any professional relationships with companies or manufacturers that would benefit from the results of the present study. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the CDC.

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