Assessing the Status Quo of Physical Activity Promotion Practice in Germany: An Exploratory Study

Background: To support policy development, a number of tools are available to inform policymakers about the current status of PA promotion in a country. However, an exchange between policymakers and researchers revealed a gap on the systematic assessment of “routine practice”, i.e. PA promotion activities already taking place on a large scale and on a regular basis (e.g., programs run by governmental or civil society organizations such as municipalities or sports federations).

Purpose: This study aims to provide an overview of routine practice for PA promotion in Germany as part of the newly developed TARGET:PA tool.

Methods:
A systematic search for routine practice was conducted for adults, older adults and adults with noncommunicable diseases. Based on a search on Google and websites of relevant stakeholders, the results were categorized by sectors (e.g., sport, health, transport). In addition, the efficacy, reach, and maintenance of the identified routine practice were examined. Scientists and stakeholders were involved to verify the results.

Results:
The systematic approach yielded more than 100 routine practices of PA promotion. They focused both on behavior change (e.g., “bike to work” campaign, exercise referral schemes) and on structural interventions (e.g., public funding of sports for all). Most were identified for the sport sector. The results informed the development of policy briefs on PA promotion published by the German Federal Ministry of Health.

Conclusions:
Routine practice is relevant for policymakers as it already has a high reach, and substantial public health impact might be generated by further optimizing it rather than introducing new measures.

Practical implications: Integrating routine practice into the monitoring of PA promotion could be an added value, and the approach has the potential to be adapted to other countries.

Funding: This research was conducted as part of a project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Health (ZMI5-2523DIA001).