Background: The Move Your Way campaign, developed by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, aims to improve Americans’ adherence to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. This article describes the research that informed the campaign’s products, messaging, and strategy. Methods: A mixed-methods approach was used to understand participants’ preferences for physical activity messages and information seeking. Two rounds (round 1 [n = 95] and round 2 [n = 73]) of focus groups and an online survey (n = 2050) were conducted with adult physical activity contemplators. A third round (n = 84) of focus groups was conducted with children, teens, and parents of young children. Results: Adults, parents, teens, and children preferred messages that reflected diverse examples of activities; most participants disliked “one-size-fits-all” recommendations. Adults and parents preferred messages that emphasized specific health benefits over generic messages about overall health. Although some participants preferred getting physical activity information from digital search tools and social media platforms, many preferred getting this information from family members and friends. Conclusion: The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion translated these findings into 3 themes used for Move Your Way implementation: (1) leverage social and community connections, (2) emphasize representation through inclusion and diversity, and (3) customize physical activity recommendations to make them more achievable.

BackgroundApproximately 5.5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in 2017. YouTube is a popular platform for disseminating health information; however, little is known about messages specifically regarding AD that are being communicated through YouTube.ObjectiveThis study aims to examine video characteristics, content, speaker characteristics, and mobilizing information (cues to action) of YouTube videos focused on AD.MethodsVideos uploaded to YouTube from 2013 to 2015 were searched with the term “Alzheimer’s disease” on April 30th, 2016. Two coders viewed the videos and coded video characteristics (the date when a video was posted, Uniform Resource Locator, video length, audience engagement, format, author), content, speaker characteristics (sex, race, age), and mobilizing information. Descriptive statistics were used to examine video characteristics, content, audience engagement (number of views), speaker appearances in the video, and mobilizing information. Associations between variables were examined using Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests.ResultsAmong the 271 videos retrieved, 25.5% (69/271) were posted by nonprofit organizations or universities. Informal presentations comprised 25.8% (70/271) of all videos. Although AD symptoms (83/271, 30.6%), causes of AD (80/271, 29.5%), and treatment (76/271, 28.0%) were commonly addressed, quality of life of people with AD (34/271, 12.5%) had more views than those more commonly-covered content areas. Most videos featured white speakers (168/187, 89.8%) who were adults aged 20 years to their early 60s (164/187, 87.7%). Only 36.9% (100/271) of videos included mobilizing information. Videos about AD symptoms were significantly less likely to include mobilizing information compared to videos without AD symptoms (23/83, 27.7% vs 77/188, 41.0% respectively; P=.03).ConclusionsThis study contributes new knowledge regarding AD messages delivered through YouTube. Findings of the current study highlight a potential gap between available information and viewers’ interests. YouTube videos on AD could be beneficial if the messages delivered meet users’ needs and provide mobilizing information for further resources. Study findings will be useful to government agencies, researchers, nonprofit organizations that promote information about AD, and those responsible for social media to provide useful and accurate health information for the public.

Community-academic partnerships have a long history of support from public health researchers and practitioners as an effective way to advance research and solutions to issues that are of concern to communities and their citizens. Data on the development and evaluation of partnerships focused on healthy aging and cognitive health is limited. The purpose of this paper is to examine how community partners view the benefits and barriers of a community-academic partner group established to support activities of the South Carolina Healthy Brain Research Network (SC-HBRN). The SC-HBRN is part of the national Healthy Brain Research Network, a thematic research network funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is focused on improving the scientific and research translation agenda on cognitive health and healthy aging. Semi-structured interviews, conducted at end of year 2 of the 5 year partnership, were used to collect data from partners of the SC-HBRN. Reported benefits of the partnership were information sharing and networking, reaching a broader audience, and humanizing research. When asked to describe what they perceived as barriers to the collaborative, partners described some lack of clarity regarding goals of the network and opportunities to contribute to the partnership. Study results can guide and strengthen other public health focused partnerships.

Effective physical activity messaging plays an important role in the pathway towards changing physical activity behaviour at a population level. The Physical Activity Messaging Framework (PAMF) and Checklist (PAMC) are outputs from a recent modified Delphi study. This sought consensus from an international expert panel on how to aid the creation and evaluation of physical activity messages. In this paper, we (1) present an overview of the various concepts within the PAMF and PAMC, (2) discuss in detail how the PAMF and PAMC can be used to create physical activity messages, plan evaluation of messages, and aid understanding and categorisation of existing messages, and (3) highlight areas for future development and research. If adopted, we propose that the PAMF and PAMC could improve physical activity messaging practice by encouraging evidence-based and target population-focused messages with clearly stated aims and consideration of potential working pathways. They could also enhance the physical activity messaging research base by harmonising key messaging terminologies, improving quality of reporting, and aiding collation and synthesis of the evidence.

Growing research suggests regular physical activity as a strategy for reducing risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD); however, there is little research available regarding public messages about the connection between physical activity and brain health. This study aimed to (a) examine the volume and content of regular physical activity and brain health messages being distributed by national organizations, and (b) explore how informal caregivers perceive and comprehend brain health messages. Methods included (a) a content analysis of 155 online documents related to physical activity and aging that were located on national physical activity organizations’ websites, and (b) a thematic analysis of transcripts and observer notes from two focus groups with 10 informal caregivers recruited at a support organization for AD caregivers in the southeastern United States. Content analysis results revealed limited information about the physical activity and brain health connection. Focus group results revealed that caregivers had limited exposure to information about the physical activity and brain health connection and were concerned about the credibility of this information. Further research is needed regarding brain health and physical activity messages and the potential benefits of collaboration among physical activity organizations, researchers, and health care professionals in delivering consistent and credible messages to the public.