An Evidence Based, Six-Week Physical Activity Programme in a Community Setting

What Does Evidence Based Mean?

You will work with one other person from your class to plan, design, implement & evaluate a small scale, physical activity-based, health promotion programme in your community. This assignment is worth 50% of this module. Please read the following information carefully.

Your programme design, implementation & evaluation must be supported by evidence from reputable, peer reviewed sources. Research and find academic articles that report on physical activity-based programmes and interventions. Read them carefully to see what you can learn from the methods, activities, results and conclusions described in the papers. There should be a clear link between your secondary research findings and the design of your programme. Therefore, the research should be completed before the study design is finalised.

Your community includes the people you know in the settings where you live, study, work, socialise, play sport, or otherwise spend your leisure time. For example, this could include students in TUS, people you know through work or sport, people in your student accommodation, friends, neighbours, people who live in Limerick or back in your hometowns and villages. Do not work with close family members* (parents & siblings), partners or students from either sports programme in Moylish.

• If a parent, sibling or partner loves the sound of this programme and they really want to take part, talk to Dermot first and we may be able to facilitate them under certain conditions.

You must recruit a minimum of five people. You may wish to recruit more than this, as it is likely that at least one person will drop out. If that happens, you won’t be penalised but please contact Dermot immediately. There is no maximum, but anything more than 10 is not recommended at this stage of your development.

No, you must actively recruit suitable participants. This can be done through word of mouth, on social media, by putting up posters in the area, by liaising with community groups such as men’s sheds, direct provision centres, Traveller groups and so on.

Dermot will assist by advertising the programme within LIT and by asking other staff members to promote the programme with their classes.

The target demographic is people who are not meeting the physical activity guidelines on most days of the week, and who would like your help to become more active. They should not have any underlying health conditions that may be aggravated by physical activity. They may be any age but note that participants who are under 18 must have written permission from a parent or legal guardian. They may be able bodied or have additional needs. And they must be committed to the programme and willing to participate for the full duration. Spend time with them at the start explaining the programme to them, outlining what is involved and why you are doing it.

Do not accept people who are already quite active, or who want to train for competitive sport. What’s a Serious Underlying Health Condition?

This will be explained in class, along with how to screen participants, so make sure you are there!

What if We Can’t Get Five Suitable People to Take Part?

Programmes like this, especially when they are free, are always in demand. So you should not have a problem recruiting five participants. But if you do, contact Dermot ASAP.