The future of health behavior change research: what is needed to improve translation of research into health promotion practice?

Background: It is well documented that the results of most behavioral and health promotion studies have not been translated into practice.

Purpose: In this article, reasons for this gap, focusing on study design characteristics as a central contributing barrier, are discussed.

Methods: Four reviews of recent controlled studies in work sites, health care, school, and community settings are briefly discussed and summarized.

Work site health promotion research: to what extent can we generalize the results and what is needed to translate research to practice?

Information on external validity of work site health promotion research is essential to translate research findings to practice. The authors provide a literature review of work site health behavior interventions. Using the RE-AIM framework, they summarize characteristics and results of these studies to document reporting of intervention reach, adoption, implementation, and maintenance.

Exercise-related goals and self-efficacy as correlates of aquatic exercise in individuals with arthritis.

Objective: To examine whether aquatic exercise-related goals, task self-efficacy, and scheduling self-efficacy are predictive of aquatic exercise attendance in individuals with arthritis. A secondary objective was to determine whether high attendees differed from low attendees on goals and self-efficacy.

Methods: The sample comprised 216 adults with arthritis (mean age 69.

Resources for physical activity participation: does availability and accessibility differ by neighborhood socioeconomic status?

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the availability and accessibility of physical activity resources differed by neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES) in a small U.S. city (population = 133,046).

Reporting of validity from school health promotion studies published in 12 leading journals, 1996-2000.

A targeted review was conducted of school-based, controlled intervention studies that promoted good nutrition, physical activity, or smoking cessation/prevention, and were published in one of 12 leading health behavior journals between 1996 and 2000. The RE-AIM framework was used to evaluate the extent to which each paper reported on elements of reach, efficacy, adoption, implementation, and maintenance. Thirty-two publications were reviewed.

Healthy youth places promoting nutrition and physical activity.

To reduce the risk for chronic disease, adolescents should eat at least five servings of fruit and vegetables and be physically active daily. The Healthy Youth Places Project will test if an intervention strategy that implements school environmental change--with adult leader and youth participation--will influence and maintain adolescent fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity. Using an experimental design, middle schools will be randomized (eight intervention and eight control schools), and the health behavior of a cohort of adolescents will be assessed during Grades 6 (baseline), 7 and 8 (intervention), and 9 (follow-up).