ParticipACTION: Baseline assessment of the capacity available to the 'New ParticipACTION': A qualitative study of Canadian organizations

Systematic review of the barriers and facilitators to cross-sector partnerships in promoting physical activity

AIMS

To review the barriers and facilitators that cross-sector partners face in promoting physical activity.

METHODS

We searched Medline, Embase, PsychINFO, ProQuest Central, SCOPUS and SPORTDiscus to identify published records dating from 1986 to August 2021. We searched for public health interventions drawn from partnerships, where the partners worked across sectors and their shared goal was to promote or increase physical activity through partnership approaches. We used the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme UK (CASP) checklist and Risk Of Bias In Non-randomised Studies - of Interventions (ROBINS-I) tool to guide the critical appraisal of included records, and thematic analysis to summarise and synthesise the findings.

RESULTS

Findings (n = 32 articles) described public health interventions (n = 19) aiming to promote physical activity through cross-sector collaboration and/or partnerships. We identified barriers, facilitators and recommendations in relation to four broad themes: approaching and selecting partners, funding, building capacity and taking joint action.

CONCLUSION

Common challenges that partners face are related to allocating time and resources, and sustaining momentum. Identifying similarities and differences between partners early on and building good relationships, strong momentum and trust can take considerable time. However, these factors may be essential for fruitful collaboration. Boundary spanners in the physical activity system could help translate differences and consolidate common ground between cross-sector partners, accelerating joint leadership and introducing systems thinking.

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER

CRD42020226207.

Towards an assessment for organizational participatory research health partnerships: A systematic mixed studies review with framework synthesis

Within the health sciences, organizational participatory research (OPR) is defined as a blend of research and action, in which academic researchers partner with health organization members. OPR is based on a sound partnership between all stakeholders to improve organizational practices. However, little research on the evaluation of OPR health partnership exists. This systematic mixed studies review sought to produce a new theoretical model that structures the evaluation of the OPR processes and related outcomes of OPR health partnerships. Six bibliographic databases were searched together with grey literature sources for OPR health partnership evaluation questionnaires. Six questionnaires were included, from which a pool of 95 OPR health partnership evaluation items were derived. The included questionnaires were appraised for the quality of their origin, development and measurement properties. A framework synthesis was performed using an existing OPR framework by organizing questionnaire items in a matrix using a hybrid thematic analysis. This led to our proposed Organizational Participatory Research Evaluation Model (OPREM) that includes three axes, Trust, Collective Learning and Sustainability (with specific dimensions) and 95 items. This model provides information to help stakeholders comprehensively structure the evaluation of their partnerships and subsequent improvement; thus, potentially helping to improve health organization practices.

Exploring the impact of the 'new' ParticipACTION: overview and introduction of the special issue

ParticipACTION is the Canadian physical activity communications and social marketing organization first launched in the fall of 1971 and then ceased operations in 2001. ParticipACTION was relaunched in 2007. Framed as a public health natural experiment, evidence was collected from a population-based survey of knowledge, awareness, understanding of physical activity, and physical activity levels among Canadians (individual level), and key informant surveys and interviews examining capacity, readiness and advocacy for physical activity promotion among physical activity organizations (organizational level). The purpose of this paper is to first provide an overview of some of the major initiatives undertaken by the 'new' ParticipACTION that may have contributed to any changes at these individual or organizational levels. Second, the paper sets the stage for the three empirical papers in this special series reporting follow-up results.

Perceptions of organizational capacity to promote physical activity in Canada and ParticipACTION's influence five years after its relaunch: a qualitative study

INTRODUCTION

ParticipACTION is a Canadian physical activity communications and social marketing organization relaunched in 2007. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively investigate organizational capacity for physical activity promotion among Canadian organizations, and the influence of ParticipACTION on capacity five years after relaunch.

METHODS

Using a purposive sampling strategy, semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 44 key informants representing national, provincial, and local organizations with a mandate to promote physical activity. Interview data were analyzed using a thematic analytic approach.

RESULTS

Organizational capacity in terms of partnerships and collaborations, and the general climate for physical activity promotion have improved since ParticipACTION's relaunch. Although financial resources reduced the ability of organizations to fulfil their mandates, internal factors such as skilled employees and sponsorships, and external factors such as technological improvements in communication and information sharing helped to offset this strain. There were mixed feelings on ParticipACTION's contribution to capacity. While ParticipACTION has brought more attention to inactivity, this was perceived as a complement to work already taking place. While some organizations perceived ParticipACTION's relaunch as competition to funding and access to popular media, others found it as an opportunity to co-brand social marketing campaigns, utilizing ParticipACTION's products and reputation.

CONCLUSION

According to participants, organizational capacity to promote physical activity in Canada has increased since 2007 in subtle but important ways because of a strong climate for physical activity promotion, skilled employees, and information sharing technology. Organizational capacity changes were minimally attributed to ParticipACTION.

ParticipACTION after 5 years of relaunch: a quantitative survey of Canadian organizational awareness and capacity regarding physical activity initiatives

INTRODUCTION

ParticipACTION is a Canadian physical activity communications and social marketing organization relaunched in 2007. This study assesses the capacity of Canadian organizations to adopt, implement, and promote physical activity initiatives. The four objectives were to compare findings from baseline (2008) and follow-up (2013) with respect to: (1) awareness of ParticipACTION; (2) organizational capacity to adopt, implement and promote physical activity initiatives; (3) potential differences in capacity based on organizational size, sector, and mandate; and (4) assess perceptions of ParticipACTION five years after relaunch.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional study, representatives from local, provincial/territorial, and national organizations completed an online survey assessing capacity to adopt, implement, and promote physical activity. Descriptive statistics and one-way analyses of variance were conducted to examine the objectives.

RESULTS

Response rate for opening an email survey invitation and consenting to participate was 40.6% (685/1688) and 540 surveys were completed. Awareness of ParticipACTION increased from 54.6% at baseline to 93.9% at follow-up (Objective 1). Findings at both baseline and follow-up reflected good organizational capacity to adopt, implement and promote physical activity (Objective 2) although some varied by organizational sector and mandate (Objective 3). Most respondents reported that ParticipACTION provided positive leadership (65.3%), but there was less agreement regarding ParticipACTION's facilitation of infrastructure (44.0%) or organizational will/motivation (47.1%)(Objective 4).

CONCLUSION

Canadian organizations continue to report having good capacity to adopt, implement, and promote physical activity. There was no discernible change in capacity indicators five years after ParticipACTION's relaunch although its broader contribution to the physical activity sector was endorsed.

Network analysis of inter-organizational relationships and policy use among active living organizations in Alberta, Canada

Background

Coordinated partnerships and collaborations can optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of service and program delivery in organizational networks. However, the extent to which organizations are working together to promote physical activity, and use physical activity policies in Canada, is unknown. This project sought to provide a snapshot of the funding, coordination and partnership relationships among provincial active living organizations (ALOs) in Alberta, Canada. Additionally, the awareness, and use of the provincial policy and national strategy by the organizations was examined.

Methods

Provincial ALOs (N = 27) answered questions regarding their funding, coordination and partnership connections with other ALOs in the network. Social network analysis was employed to examine network structure and position of each ALO. Discriminant function analysis determined the extent to which degree centrality was associated with the use of the Active Alberta (AA) policy and Active Canada 20/20 (AC 20/20) strategy.

Results

The funding network had a low density level (density = .20) and was centralized around Alberta Tourism Parks and Recreation (ATPR; degree centralization = 48.77%, betweenness centralization = 32.43%). The coordination network had a moderate density level (density = .31), and was low-to-moderately centralized around a few organizations (degree centralization = 45.37%, betweenness centrality = 19.92%). The partnership network had a low density level (density = .15), and was moderate-to-highly centralized around ATPR. Most organizations were aware of AA (89%) and AC 20/20 (78%), however more were using AA (67%) compared to AC 20/20 (33%). Central ALOs in the funding network were more likely to use AA and AC 20/20. Central ALOs in the coordination network were more likely to use AC 20/20, but not AA.

Conclusions

Increasing formal and informal relationships between organizations and integrating disconnected or peripheral organizations could increase the capacity of the network to promote active living across Alberta. Uptake of the AA policy within the network is high and appears to be facilitated by the most central ALO. Promoting policy use through a central organization appeared to be an effective strategy for disseminating the province-level physical activity policy and could be considered as a policy-uptake strategy by other regions.

A qualitative examination of the impact of microgrants to promote physical activity among adolescents

Background

Microgrants are a mechanism for providing funding to community organizations or groups to support health initiatives. Little research to date has examined the use of microgrants in promoting physical activity (PA), and no studies have explored how microgrants may support PA promotion among adolescents. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of microgrants in enhancing PA opportunities for Canadian adolescents.

Methods

Employing a case study approach, nine community organizations from across Canada were selected as cases providing sports and physical activities with the support of microgrant funding. Researchers visited each organization and conducted semi-structured interviews with 40 program participants (12–25 years of age, M = 16.3, SD = 2.6) and 17 adult organizers/instructors (23–57 years of age, M = 37.4, SD = 10.0). Interview transcripts were inductively and deductively coded to identify concepts and create a hierarchy of themes.

Results

Analysis produced themes regarding participants’ perceptions of the Funding, Running Programs and Events, the Impact of Program (for the Organization, Teen Participants, and the Community). Opportunities for PA programming would not have been possible without the microgrant funding. Microgrant funding was valuable in promoting PA for adolescents, and they afforded opportunities for adolescents to engage in new and/or nontraditional activities. In addition to promoting PA, the microgrants had benefits for participants and the community organizations including improved organizational capacity.

Conclusions

Microgrants appear to be an effective mechanism for enhancing community capacity to provide PA opportunities for Canadian adolescents by helping to reduce financial barriers and empowering adolescents to take an active role in identifying and hosting new and creative PA events within their communities.

Evaluating the uptake of Canada's new physical activity and sedentary behavior guidelines on service organizations' websites

New evidence-based physical activity and sedentary behavior guidelines for Canadians were launched in 2011. As a consequence, service organizations that promote physical activity directly to the public needed to change their promotion materials to reflect the new guidelines. Little is known about the rate at which service organizations adopt and integrate new evidence-based guidelines and determinants of guideline adoption. In this natural observational study, we evaluated the rate of online adoption of the new guidelines among key service organizations that promote physical activity and examined participation in a booster webinar as a supplemental dissemination strategy. One hundred fifty nine service organization websites were coded by one of six raters prior to the release of the new guidelines as well as at 3, 6, and 9 months after the release. Online adoption of the guidelines increased during the coding period with 51 % of organizations posting the guidelines or related information on their websites. Organizations' engagement in a webinar was associated with their adoption of the guidelines. The release of new Canadian Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines led to increased guideline adoption on service organizations' websites. However, adoption was not universal. In order for the uptake of the new guidelines to be successful, further efforts need to be taken to ensure that service organizations present physical activity guidelines on their websites. Comprehensive, active dissemination strategies tailored to address organizational barriers are needed to ensure online guideline adoption.

ParticipACTION: Baseline assessment of the 'new ParticipACTION': A quantitative survey of Canadian organizational awareness and capacity

BACKGROUND

ParticipACTION is a Canadian physical activity (PA) communications and social marketing organization that was relaunched in 2007 after a six-year hiatus. This study assesses the baseline awareness and capacity of Canadian organizations that promote physical activity, to adopt, implement and promote ParticipACTION's physical activity campaign. The three objectives were: (1) to determine organizational awareness of both the 'original' and 'new' ParticipACTION; (2) to report baseline levels of three organizational capacity domains (i.e., to adopt, implement and externally promote physical activity initiatives); and, (3) to explore potential differences in those domains based on organizational size, sector and primary mandate.

METHODS

Organizations at local, provincial/territorial, and national levels were sent an invitation via email prior to the official launch of ParticipACTION to complete an on-line survey. The survey assessed their organization's capacity to adopt, implement and externally promote a new physical activity campaign within their organizational mandates. Descriptive statistics were employed to address the first two study objectives. A series of one-way analysis of variance were conducted to examine the third objective.

RESULTS

The response rate was 29.7% (268/902). The majority of responding organizations had over 40 employees and had operated for over 10 years. Education was the most common primary mandate, followed by sport and recreation. Organizations were evenly distributed between government and not-for-profits. Approximately 96% of respondents had heard of the 'original' ParticipACTION while 54.6% had heard of the 'new' ParticipACTION (Objective 1). Findings indicate good organizational capacity in Canada to promote physical activity (Objective 2) based on reported means of approximately 4.0 (on 5-point scales) for capacity to adopt, implement, and externally promote new physical activity campaigns. Capacity to adopt new physical activity campaigns differed by organizational sector and mandate, and capacity to implement differed by organizational mandate (Objective 3).

CONCLUSION

At baseline, and without specific details of the campaign, respondents believe they have good capacity to work with ParticipACTION. ParticipACTION may do well to capitalize on the existing strong organizational capacity components of leadership, infrastructure and 'will' of national organizations to facilitate the success of its future campaigns.

ParticipACTION: Overview and introduction of baseline research on the "new" ParticipACTION

Background

This paper provides a brief overview of the Canadian physical activity communications and social marketing organization "ParticipACTION"; introduces the "new" ParticipACTION; describes the research process leading to the collection of baseline data on the new ParticipACTION; and outlines the accompanying series of papers in the supplement presenting the detailed baseline data.

Methods

Information on ParticipACTION was gathered from close personal involvement with the organization, from interviews and meetings with key leaders of the organization, from published literature and from ParticipACTION archives. In 2001, after nearly 30 years of operation, ParticipACTION ceased operations because of inadequate funding. In February 2007 the organization was officially resurrected and the launch of the first mass media campaign of the "new" ParticipACTION occurred in October 2007. The six-year absence of ParticipACTION, or any equivalent substitute, provided a unique opportunity to examine the impact of a national physical activity social marketing organization on important individual and organizational level indicators of success. A rapid response research team was established in January 2007 to exploit this natural intervention research opportunity.

Results

The research team was successful in obtaining funding through the new Canadian Institutes of Health Research Intervention Research (Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention) Funding Program. Data were collected on individuals and organizations prior to the complete implementation of the first mass media campaign of the new ParticipACTION.

Conclusion

Rapid response research and funding mechanisms facilitated the collection of baseline information on the new ParticipACTION. These data will allow for comprehensive assessments of future initiatives of ParticipACTION.

ParticipACTION: Baseline assessment of the 'new ParticipACTION': A quantitative survey of Canadian organizational awareness and capacity

Background

ParticipACTION is a Canadian physical activity (PA) communications and social marketing organization that was relaunched in 2007 after a six-year hiatus. This study assesses the baseline awareness and capacity of Canadian organizations that promote physical activity, to adopt, implement and promote ParticipACTION's physical activity campaign. The three objectives were: (1) to determine organizational awareness of both the 'original' and 'new' ParticipACTION; (2) to report baseline levels of three organizational capacity domains (i.e., to adopt, implement and externally promote physical activity initiatives); and, (3) to explore potential differences in those domains based on organizational size, sector and primary mandate.

Methods

Organizations at local, provincial/territorial, and national levels were sent an invitation via email prior to the official launch of ParticipACTION to complete an on-line survey. The survey assessed their organization's capacity to adopt, implement and externally promote a new physical activity campaign within their organizational mandates. Descriptive statistics were employed to address the first two study objectives. A series of one-way analysis of variance were conducted to examine the third objective.

Results

The response rate was 29.7% (268/902). The majority of responding organizations had over 40 employees and had operated for over 10 years. Education was the most common primary mandate, followed by sport and recreation. Organizations were evenly distributed between government and not-for-profits. Approximately 96% of respondents had heard of the 'original' ParticipACTION while 54.6% had heard of the 'new' ParticipACTION (Objective 1). Findings indicate good organizational capacity in Canada to promote physical activity (Objective 2) based on reported means of approximately 4.0 (on 5-point scales) for capacity to adopt, implement, and externally promote new physical activity campaigns. Capacity to adopt new physical activity campaigns differed by organizational sector and mandate, and capacity to implement differed by organizational mandate (Objective 3).

Conclusion

At baseline, and without specific details of the campaign, respondents believe they have good capacity to work with ParticipACTION. ParticipACTION may do well to capitalize on the existing strong organizational capacity components of leadership, infrastructure and 'will' of national organizations to facilitate the success of its future campaigns.

ParticipACTION: the future challenges for physical activity promotion in Canada

This commentary is the concluding piece of a series of papers about the Canadian ParticipACTION initiative. It describes the resurgence of the new ParticipACTION as a national communications initiative in Canada, and sets this in an international context. The set of ParticipACTION papers in this issue establish benchmarks and provide baseline and initial impact data for the evaluation and monitoring of ParticipACTION, using qualitative and quantiative research methods. As a set, they describe a comprehensive approach to setting up evaluations of national social marketing efforts to promote physical activity.