Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Sep 30;17(1):760.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-017-4790-x.

Contextual influences on physical activity and eating habits -options for action on the community level

Sven Schneider  1 , Katharina Diehl  2 , Tatiana Görig  2 , Laura Schilling  2 , Freia De Bock  2 , Kristina Hoffmann  2 , Maren Albrecht  2 , Diana Sonntag  2 , Joachim Fischer  2
Affiliations

Contextual influences on physical activity and eating habits -options for action on the community level

Sven Schneider et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: This conceptual paper aims to illustrate the ways in which communities are able to advance health improvements on a population level. Outcome measures may include increased physical activity and healthier eating habits in particular, as well as an improved health-related quality of life and social cohesion as more generic outcomes.

Main body: The paper begins by asking initial questions: Why did previous health-specific interventions only show moderate effects on an individual level and mixed effects on a population level? What is the added value of a community-based public health perspective compared to the traditional biomedical perspective when it comes to prevention? Why are we living the way we are living? Why do we eat what we eat? Why do we move the way we move? Subsequently, we illustrate the broad spectrum of contextual interventions available to communities. These can have geographical and technological as well as economic, political, normative and attitude-specific dimensions. It is shown that communities have a strong influence on health-related contexts and decision-making of adults, adolescents and children. In addition contextual characteristics, effects, mediators, moderators and consequences relevant for health can differ greatly between age groups. Both small-scale settings and overarching sectors possess physical, economic, political and sociocultural characteristics that can be proactively influenced by community decision-makers in the sense of a "health in all policies"-strategy.

Short conclusion: After presenting various interdisciplinary approaches to community-based health interventions, the manuscript closes with the following core message: Successful community-based health promotion strategies consist of multilevel - multicomponent interventions on the micro, meso and macro-level-environments.

Keywords: Environment; Exercise; Obesity; Preventive medicine; Public health; Residence characteristics.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Obesogenic environment –an exemplary systematization of potential factors influencing excess weight gain on the micro and macro-levels (using the Analysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity ANGELO [4]). The arrows indicate possible interactions
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Model of the connection between environmental factors and excess weight gain (based on [26] and [30])
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pampel FC, Denney JT, Krueger PM. Obesity, SES, and economic development: a test of the reversal hypothesis. Soc Sci Med. 2012;74(7):1073–1081. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.12.028. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kumanyika S, Jeffery RW, Morabia A, Ritenbaugh C, Antipatis VJ. Obesity prevention: the case for action. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord. 2002;26(3):425–436. doi: 10.1038/sj.ijo.0801938. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Powell P, Spears K, Rebori M. What is obesogenic environment? 2010. [https://www.unce.unr.edu/publications/files/hn/2010/fs1011.pdf]. Accessed 25 Sept 2017.
    1. Swinburn B, Egger G, Raza F. Dissecting obesogenic environments: the development and application of a framework for identifying and prioritizing environmental interventions for obesity. Prev Med. 1999;29(6):563–570. doi: 10.1006/pmed.1999.0585. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kirk SF, Penney TL, McHugh TL. Characterizing the obesogenic environment: the state of the evidence with directions for future research. Obes Rev. 2010;11(2):109–117. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-789X.2009.00611.x. - DOI - PubMed