Physical Activity of Polish and Norwegian Local Communities in the Context of Self-Government Authorities’ Projects

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between the physical activity (PA) undertaken by two groups of residents living in Poland and Norway, and projects run by their respective local authorities. A secondary goal is to determine PA levels in the studied social groups. Two representative groups (one from each country) were examined using a diagnostic survey, supported by questionnaires and interviews. The Polish cohort consisted of 382 respondents who were residents of 11 municipalities in the Kalisz district of the Greater Poland voivodship. The Norwegian cohort was made up of 378 residents of 8 Indre Sogn municipalities from the Sogn og Fjordane region. Norwegians are twice as physically active as Poles and assess their municipal sport and recreation facilities to be much better. There is no statistically significant relationship between Polish and Norwegian PA levels in the two studied groups and their positive views on the impact of their local governments’ projects to promote PA. Statistically significant correlations occurred between the frequency of PA undertaken, the time pattern of class unit, MET level (metabolic equivalent) and the declared use of the sport and recreation facilities of the two communities. Both groups are more willing to be active outdoors than indoors and thus municipal authorities should take particular care about the state of outdoor sports and recreation infrastructure. An innovative and original action model is presented to assist local authorities in their attempts to raise PA levels in their communities.