Place Activation in Urban Peripheries: the 'Comunidades y Espacios Activos" Project (CEA)

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

Active Dissemination and Implementation: This intervention is designed to accelerate the uptake of evidence-based interventions that help maximize the impact of the addition or renovation of public open spaces on their utilization for active recreation among community members, ultimately effective physical activity levels in communities. The intervention targets implementation partners: local stakeholders/decision makers and community leaders, to increase their awareness of these evidence-based approaches for place-activation, and their willingness to adopt and implement them in their neighborhood settings. Intervention components include capacity building workshops, newsletters, targeted messaging and access to a knowledge broker and implementation support for 1-year.

Passive Dissemination: Delivery of booklet with menu of evidence-based interventions for place-activation; and of pamphlet summarizing importance of healthy lifestyle promotion.

Study summary

This study will use a Hybrid III Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial to test an 'active dissemination and implementation' intervention in peripheral urban neighborhoods, designed to accelerate the uptake of evidence-based place-based activations that are known to be effective in increasing physical activity among local residents. The study will use a parallel design with eligible neighborhoods randomized to one of two arms: the (1) "Active Dissemination and Implementation" intervention arm (n=15 neighborhoods); and (2) the comparison arm (n=15 neighborhoods). Participants will be "implementation partners" in each of the participating neighborhoods (n=510 total participants, n=17 per neighborhood), comprised of a mix of local government representatives, representatives of non-governmental organizations working in the area, and community leaders. Intervention components to be delivered to implementation partners of neighborhoods randomized to the "Active Dissemination and Implementation" Intervention Arm include participation in 2 workshops, facilitation of coalition building activities, newsletters, targeted messaging, and access to a knowledge broker, and implementation support for 1 year (12 months).

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Reach — Measured at baseline, 6-months (interim effects), 12-months (post-intervention), 24-months (maintenance)
  Operationalized as awareness of evidence-based interventions, and measured with surveys utilizing 5-Point Likert scale questions (Range: 1-5, where 5 is highest awareness).
• Adoption (self-reported by implementation partners) — Measured at baseline, 6-months (interim effects), 12-months (post-intervention), 24-months (maintenance)
  Operationalized as the confirmed adoption of evidence-based interventions (binary variable: yes or no for each evidence-based intervention that could be adopted). Confirmation of adoption is assessed via surveys to implementation partners, who respond to questions about whether the neighborhood they operate at has begun utilizing each of the specific evidence-based interventions or not.
• Implementation (self-reported) — Measured at baseline, 6-months (interim effects), 12-months (post-intervention), 24-months (maintenance)
  Operationalized as implementation fidelity, as reported by the implementation partner participants - i.e., to what extent is each of the evidence-based interventions that were adopted in a given neighborhood been implemented with close fidelity to the research-based intervention with proven effectiveness per the scientific literature. Implementation fidelity is measured with self-reported checklists.

Trial sites (1)