Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

We now know that moderate amounts of physical activity are essential for good health, and yet only 40% of our population are regularly physically active. What can you do as a professional to help people become physically active, not only for tomorrow, but for a lifetime?

It's no easy task to get people out of their cars and onto their bikes; out of the elevators and onto the stairs; out of their offices and onto the walking paths. Changing people's behavior is never easy. But Promoting Physical Activity , the CDC's new guide for community action, will help you do so. It is a practical reference, logically organized, and loaded with useful information.

The guide begins by clearly explaining the benefits of physical activity and how to achieve a moderately active lifestyle. Next you'll learn step-by-step strategies for increasing the probability of individuals becoming physically active. You'll also find numerous ideas for specific actions you can take to promote physical activity in your community, worksite, and school. The book's Resources for Action section contains website addresses and contact information for dozens of relevant agencies, organizations, and programs across the country, as well as other resources that will help you offer successful physical activity promotional programs.

Promoting Physical Activity equips you to reach out to the physically inactive people in your community and get them excited about physical activity. Drawing on the latest theories for changing behavior, this innovative resource shows you how to find out what matters most to the people you want to help. By learning to focus on their perceptions and by understanding the barriers that keep them from being active, you'll be able to create physical activity programs that your specific audience wants, needs, and is ready for. Then they'll be motivated to make active choices in their daily lives.

Whether you've just become interested in promoting physical activity or are an experienced professional looking for ways to improve existing programs, this user-friendly guide has something for you:

-Creative, fresh ideas for promoting physical activity in your community, workplace, school, or health care facility

-Practical examples of situations similar to those you may face, drawn from a variety of settings

-Advice on forming successful partnerships with other community organizations

-Helpful hints on how to create a positive environment where physical activity is accessible, safe, affordable, and fun

-Extensive information on sources you can turn to for additional help

Promoting Physical Activity is a treasure chest of useful information for all professionals concerned with improving our public's health. Whether you're a full-time health promotion professional, an administrator or practitioner who provides intervention programs, an educator who teaches about active living, or a health care professional, you'll find this terrific new resource indispensable.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• A National Call to Action
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part I Foundations for Physical Activity Promotion
• Chapter 1 Understanding the Power of Physical Activity
• Chapter 2 Achieving a Moderately Active Lifestyle
• Part II Strategies for Changing Physical Activity Behavior
• Chapter 3 Targeting Your Efforts
• Chapter 4 Understanding the Basics of Behavior Change
• Chapter 5 Strengthening Individual Intention to Change
• Chapter 6 Creating a Supportive Environment
• Part III Planning and Implementing Your Intervention
• Chapter 7 Setting Objectives and Measuring Success
• Chapter 8 Working With Partners
• Chapter 9 Ideas for Action in the Worksite
• Chapter 10 Ideas for Action in the Schools
• Appendix A Organizations and Selected Materials for Promoting Physical Activity
• Appendix B Physical Activity and Health: A Report of the Surgeon General
• Appendix C Target Audience for CDC's Physical Activity Initiative
• Appendix D Highlights from 1995 Focus Group Results: CDC's Nutrition and Physical Activity Communication Campaign
• Appendix E Selected Organizations and Agencies Concerned With Persons With Disabilities
• Appendix F Americans With Disabilities Act
• Appendix G National Days or Months: Opportunities for Physical Activity Promotion
• Appendix H Healthy Communities 2000: Model Standards
• References
• Index

Author notes provided by Syndetics

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) serves as the national focus for developing and applying disease prevention and control, environmental health, and health promotion and health education activities designed to improve the health of people in the United States. To accomplish its mission, the CDC

-identifies and defines preventable health problems;

-maintains active surveillance of diseases through epidemiologic and laboratory investigations and data collection, analysis, and distribution;

-serves as the Public Health Service lead agency in developing and implementing operational programs relating to environmental health problems;

-conducts operational research aimed at developing and testing effective disease prevention, control, and health promotion programs;

-administers a national program to develop recommended occupational safety and health standards and to conduct research, training, and technical assistance to assure safe and healthful working conditions for every working person;

-develops and implements a program to sustain a strong national workforce in disease prevention and control; and

-conducts a national program for improving the performance of clinical laboratories.