Our Approach
Active Living By Design creates community-led change by working with local and national partners to build a culture of active living and healthy eating.
Community demonstration projects have long been used as a funding strategy to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of specific change approaches or intervention outcomes. ALBD is a community change project created to demonstrate the ability of interdisciplinary partnerships to enhance built environments to increase active living and healthy eating. The ALBD 5P approach is based on numerous studies of successful prevention and physical activity interventions that employ comprehensive multilevel approaches supported by diverse community stakeholders.
Public health literature has shown that physical activity intervention programs that are organized within an ecologic framework can have the biggest potential to improve the health of populations.1 An ecological framework stresses the importance of addressing health problems at multiple levels and recognizes that behavioral determinants range from individual and interpersonal factors to community norms, environments, and policies.2 3 4 5 The ALBD Community Action Model (CAM) uses an ecological approach with the intent of coordinating complementary individual, interpersonal and environmental/policy strategies.
ALBD has identified five strategies that address partnerships and the ecologic influences on physical activity behaviors: preparation, promotions, programs, policies and physical projects. These “5P strategies” provide the intervention framework for each of the 25 ALBD community partnerships. Scientific support of the effectiveness of these strategies can be found in various studies, many of which were summarized by the federal Task Force on Community Preventive Services, which recommended physical activity interventions with informational, behavioral, and environmental and policy approaches.6 These interventions included community-wide campaigns, tailored behavior change programs, point-of-decision prompts, school-based physical education and enhanced access to places for physical activity, combined with informational outreach activities.
1 Brownson RC, Baker EA, Boyd RL, Caito NM, Duggan K, Housemann RA, Kreuter MW, Mitchell T, Motton F, Pulley C, Schmid TL, Walton D. “A community-based approach to promoting walking in rural areas.” Am J Prev Med. 2004 Jul;27(1):28-34.
2 L. Breslow, “Social ecological strategies for promoting healthy lifestyles.” Am J Health Promot 10 (1996), pp. 253–257.
3 J.F. Sallis and N. Owen, “Ecological models,” in: K. Glanz, F.M. Lewis and B.K. Rimer, Editors, Health behavior and health education (2nd ed.), Jossey-Bass, San Francisco CA (1997), pp. 403–424.
4 B. Swinburn, G. Egger and F. Raza, “Dissecting obesogenic environments: the development and application of a framework for identifying and prioritizing environmental interventions for obesity.” Prev Med 29 (1999), pp. 563–570.
5 King AC, Stokols D, Talen E, Brassington GS, Killingsworth R. “Theoretical approaches to the promotion of physical activity: forging a transdisciplinary paradigm.” Am J Prev Med. 2002 Aug;23(2 Suppl):15-25.
6 Task Force on Community Preventive Services, “Recommendations to increase physical activity in communities.” Am J Prev Med 2002;22(4S):67–72.
2 L. Breslow, “Social ecological strategies for promoting healthy lifestyles.” Am J Health Promot 10 (1996), pp. 253–257.
3 J.F. Sallis and N. Owen, “Ecological models,” in: K. Glanz, F.M. Lewis and B.K. Rimer, Editors, Health behavior and health education (2nd ed.), Jossey-Bass, San Francisco CA (1997), pp. 403–424.
4 B. Swinburn, G. Egger and F. Raza, “Dissecting obesogenic environments: the development and application of a framework for identifying and prioritizing environmental interventions for obesity.” Prev Med 29 (1999), pp. 563–570.
5 King AC, Stokols D, Talen E, Brassington GS, Killingsworth R. “Theoretical approaches to the promotion of physical activity: forging a transdisciplinary paradigm.” Am J Prev Med. 2002 Aug;23(2 Suppl):15-25.
6 Task Force on Community Preventive Services, “Recommendations to increase physical activity in communities.” Am J Prev Med 2002;22(4S):67–72.
