| Title: | Online Physical Activity Resource Guide: Active Valley CT |
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| Status: | Completed |
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| Topic: | Community;Health Promotion & Wellness;Physical Activity;Program or Product Development |
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| Funding Source: | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |
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| Funding Period: | 2016-2019 |
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| Study Design: | N/A |
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| Purpose: | The purpose was to: (1) create an online guide for residents of Lower Naugatuck Valley communities featuring low-cost and no-cost resources for physical activity; and (2) promote awareness and use of this guide. The ultimate goal was to improve Valley residents’ health, fitness, and quality of life through regular physical activity. This online guide served as a community portal for our 5-year (2014-2019) core research project titled Community Health Opportunities Organized with Schools at the Epicenter (CHOOSE). |
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| Further Study Details: | An advisory group of local stakeholders directed the development process. Partners included the Naugatuck Valley Health Department, Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments (NVCOG), Valley YMCA, a former CEO of the Valley United Way, and a local physician. The NVCOG contributed in-kind staffing and access to ESRI Story Map, a customized web app hosted in the ArcGIS Online Cloud. The PRC recruited and provided oversight to public health interns and volunteers who worked on this project.The completed guide, Active Valley CT: Your Active Lifestyle Resource for the Lower Naugatuck Valley (AVCT), features resources in Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Derby, Naugatuck, Oxford, Seymour, and Shelton on an interactive map. It provides brief descriptions of resources, along with links to their official websites and driving directions on Google Maps. Users can search (based on the category of activity) for places to walk, run, hike, bike, swim, paddle a boat, play ball sports, or enjoy winter sports. AVCT also features playgrounds, open fields, state parks, nature centers, parks & recreation departments, and senior centers. This customized web app can be viewed on web browsers on computers, tablets and mobile phones. In 2019, we conducted an initial dissemination campaign to promote awareness of the guide. |
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| Findings: | Sustainability has been addressed via having the NVCOG house the platform. Also, the NVCOG has decided to adopt Active Valley CT to serve its entire region of 19 municipalities, by building upon our own online guide to include points of no-cost and low-cost activities in all 19 member towns and cities. This will be done by the NVCOG without the need for support from the PRC.AVCT can serve as a model for the creation of online portals by other PRCs or other public health experts in partnership with county governments, Councils of Government, or other government entities working together in a mutually beneficial way to service the residents of the communities that they represent. |
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| Eligibility: | N/A |
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| Evaluation: | During the first four months after the guide was first posted (August-December 2019), the average number of online views exceeded 280 per month. We continue to track online views on a monthly basis. Another indicator of success has been the positive reaction to and planned uptake of the guide within several Griffin Hospital departments, including Cardiac Rehab, Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Occupational Medicine, Bariatrics, Community Outreach, and Outpatient Case Management), and the planned use of the guide by Griffin’s employee wellness program for local employers. Ongoing promotion by our community partners is planned as part of the dissemination plan. |
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Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center