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
. 2020 Jan-Dec:57:46958020935662.
doi: 10.1177/0046958020935662.

Implementation of Physical Activity Interventions in Rural, Remote, and Northern Communities: A Scoping Review

Chelsea A Pelletier  1 , Anne Pousette  2   3 , Kirsten Ward  1 , Robin Keahey  1 , Gloria Fox  4 , Sandra Allison  1   2   4 , Drona Rasali  5 , Guy Faulkner  2
Affiliations

Implementation of Physical Activity Interventions in Rural, Remote, and Northern Communities: A Scoping Review

Chelsea A Pelletier et al. Inquiry. 2020 Jan-Dec.

Abstract

Compared with urban centers, rural, remote, and northern communities face substantial health inequities and increased rates of noncommunicable disease fuelled, in part, by decreased participation in physical activity. Understanding how the unique sociocultural and environmental factors in rural, remote, and northern communities contribute to implementation of physical activity interventions can help guide health promotion policy and practice. A scoping review was conducted to map literature describing the implementation of physical activity interventions in rural, remote, and/or northern communities. Databases MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, CINAHL, and SPORTDiscus were searched using a predetermined search strategy. Outcomes of interest included community demographics, program characteristics, intervention results, measures of implementation, and facilitators or barriers to implementation. A total of 1672 articles were identified from a search of databases, and 8 from a targeted hand search. After screening based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, 12 articles were summarized in a narrative review. Prominent barriers to physical activity program implementation included transportation, lack of infrastructure, sociocultural factors, and weather. Facilitators of program success included flexibility and creativity on the part of the implementation team, leveraging community relationships, and shared resources. Few papers reported on traditional implementation outcomes such as fidelity, dose, and quality. There is a lack of rigorous implementation evaluations of physical activity interventions delivered in rural, remote, or northern communities. Positive aspects of rural life, such as social cohesion and willingness to share resources, appear to contribute to successful program implementation.

Keywords: exercise; health behavior; implementation; physical activity; population health; rural health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flow chart of articles included in scoping review on implementation of physical activity interventions in rural, remote, and northern communities.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Piercy KL, Troiano RP, Ballard RM, et al. The physical activity guidelines for Americans. JAMA. 2018;320(19):2020-2028. doi:10.1001/jama.2018.14854. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Guthold R, Stevens GA, Riley LM, Bull FC. Worldwide trends in insufficient physical activity from 2001 to 2016: a pooled analysis of 358 population-based surveys with 1·9 million participants. Lancet Glob Health. 2018;6(10):e1077-e1086. doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(18)30357-7. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Bauer MS, Damschroder L, Hagedorn H, Smith J, Kilbourne AM. An introduction to implementation science for the non-specialist. BMC Psychol. 2015;3(1):1-12. doi:10.1186/s40359-015-0089-9. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Saunders RP, Evans MH, Joshi P. Developing a process-evaluation plan for assessing health promotion program implementation: a how-to guide. Health Promot Pract. 2016;6(2):134-147. doi:10.1177/1524839904273387. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Glasgow RE, Emmons KM. How can we increase translation of research into practice? types of evidence needed. Annu Rev Public Health. 2007;28:413-433. doi:10.1146/annurev.publhealth.28.021406.144145. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

Grants and funding