UC San Diego

Purpose

This study tested whether a multilevel physical activity (PA) intervention had differential effects on PA according to participants' perceptions of their neighborhood environment.

Design

Two-group cluster randomized controlled trial.

Setting

San Diego, California.

Subjects

Analytical sample included 319 Latinas (18-65 years) from churches randomized to the following conditions: PA (n = 8 churches, n = 157 participants) or attention control (n = 8 churches, n = 162 participants).

Intervention

Over 12 months, PA participants were offered free PA classes (6/wk), while attention control participants were offered cancer prevention workshops.

Measures

Baseline and 12-month follow-up measures included self-report and accelerometer-based moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), sociodemographics, and perceived neighborhood environment variables.

Analysis

Mixed-effects models examined each PA outcome at 12-month follow-up, adjusted for church clustering, baseline PA, and sociodemographics. We tested interactions between 7 baseline perceived environment variables and study condition.

Results

Neighborhood esthetics was the only significant moderator of intervention effects on accelerometer-based MVPA and self-report leisure-time MVPA. Participants in the PA intervention had significantly higher PA at follow-up than attention control participants, only when participants evaluated their neighborhood esthetics favorably.

Conclusion

Perceived neighborhood esthetics appeared to maximize the effectiveness of a multilevel PA intervention among Latinas. For sustainable PA behavior change, the environments in which Latinas are encouraged to be active may need to be evaluated prior to implementing an intervention to ensure they support active lifestyles.