Use of the PRECEDE-PROCEED Model to Pilot an Occupational Physical Activity Intervention: Tailored Through a Community Partnership.

Background: Healthcare and social assistance workers are at increased risk for obesity. This industry has limited access to workplace health promotion resources and reports low rates of physical activity programs for workers.

Methods: This article describes the application of the PRECEDE-PROCEED Model (PPM) to plan, implement, and evaluate a pilot physical activity intervention, Project Move, tailored to promote occupational physical activity and reduce sedentary behaviors among female workers. Actions taken by the community-based participatory research partnership assisted in the identification of the predisposing, reinforcing, and enabling factors that influenced the physical activity behaviors of female workers. The resources and capacities of the partnership were leveraged to implement and evaluate the pilot intervention.

Findings: After the 12-week intervention, the participants' daily average steps while at work met the recommended minimum 7,000 steps/day, and the time spent sitting decreased along with positive changes in health-related psychosocial measures.

Conclusions/application to practice: The PPM represents a feasible approach for community-based participatory partnerships to create a tailored intervention to address the occupational physical activity and sedentary behaviors of at-risk female healthcare and social assistance workforce.