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Health Educator Participation in Virtual Micro-Credentialing Increases Physical Activity in Public Health Competencies
Background: Physical activity is an important component of leading a healthy life. Public health is one of the nine major sectors for disseminating information about physical activity and increasing the physical activity of the general public. Purpose: Increase competency among Cooperative Extension...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8688696/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34950632 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.780618 |
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author | Dysart, Anna Balis, Laura E. Daniels, Bryce T. Harden, Samantha M. |
author_facet | Dysart, Anna Balis, Laura E. Daniels, Bryce T. Harden, Samantha M. |
author_sort | Dysart, Anna |
collection | PubMed |
description | Background: Physical activity is an important component of leading a healthy life. Public health is one of the nine major sectors for disseminating information about physical activity and increasing the physical activity of the general public. Purpose: Increase competency among Cooperative Extension agents (i.e., public health workers) on selecting, delivering, and evaluating physical activity programs through a theory-based online training program. Methods: Cooperative Extension agents from two states were invited to participate via statewide listservs. Participants were invited to attend sessions, complete competency checks, and between-session assignments each week. The study was conducted using a video conferencing platform. The intervention was 9 weeks from June to July 2020 and had 130 participants. Pre- and post-program surveys included physical activity competencies and validated scales for flourishing and physical activity status. Data for competencies pre and post were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test, p < 0.01. Physical activity and flourishing pre and post were compared using t-tests, p < 0.05. Results: Physical activity in public health competency increased significantly (p < 0.00) as did agents' personal physical activity levels (p < 0.05). Changes in flourishing were not significant (p < 0.09) but trended in the hypothesized direction. Conclusions: The online competency-based training program significantly improved Cooperative Extension agents' knowledge of physical activity guidelines and physical activity program implementation. Future work is needed related to the scalability of the training program. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8688696 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-86886962021-12-22 Health Educator Participation in Virtual Micro-Credentialing Increases Physical Activity in Public Health Competencies Dysart, Anna Balis, Laura E. Daniels, Bryce T. Harden, Samantha M. Front Public Health Public Health Background: Physical activity is an important component of leading a healthy life. Public health is one of the nine major sectors for disseminating information about physical activity and increasing the physical activity of the general public. Purpose: Increase competency among Cooperative Extension agents (i.e., public health workers) on selecting, delivering, and evaluating physical activity programs through a theory-based online training program. Methods: Cooperative Extension agents from two states were invited to participate via statewide listservs. Participants were invited to attend sessions, complete competency checks, and between-session assignments each week. The study was conducted using a video conferencing platform. The intervention was 9 weeks from June to July 2020 and had 130 participants. Pre- and post-program surveys included physical activity competencies and validated scales for flourishing and physical activity status. Data for competencies pre and post were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed rank test, p < 0.01. Physical activity and flourishing pre and post were compared using t-tests, p < 0.05. Results: Physical activity in public health competency increased significantly (p < 0.00) as did agents' personal physical activity levels (p < 0.05). Changes in flourishing were not significant (p < 0.09) but trended in the hypothesized direction. Conclusions: The online competency-based training program significantly improved Cooperative Extension agents' knowledge of physical activity guidelines and physical activity program implementation. Future work is needed related to the scalability of the training program. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-12-07 /pmc/articles/PMC8688696/ /pubmed/34950632 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.780618 Text en Copyright © 2021 Dysart, Balis, Daniels and Harden. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Public Health Dysart, Anna Balis, Laura E. Daniels, Bryce T. Harden, Samantha M. Health Educator Participation in Virtual Micro-Credentialing Increases Physical Activity in Public Health Competencies |
title | Health Educator Participation in Virtual Micro-Credentialing Increases Physical Activity in Public Health Competencies |
title_full | Health Educator Participation in Virtual Micro-Credentialing Increases Physical Activity in Public Health Competencies |
title_fullStr | Health Educator Participation in Virtual Micro-Credentialing Increases Physical Activity in Public Health Competencies |
title_full_unstemmed | Health Educator Participation in Virtual Micro-Credentialing Increases Physical Activity in Public Health Competencies |
title_short | Health Educator Participation in Virtual Micro-Credentialing Increases Physical Activity in Public Health Competencies |
title_sort | health educator participation in virtual micro-credentialing increases physical activity in public health competencies |
topic | Public Health |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8688696/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34950632 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.780618 |
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