Date of Graduation

2008

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

Committee Chair

David Smaldone

Abstract

There have been a number of recent studies documenting the various physical, psychological, and social health benefits associated with participation in regular physical activity. In response to compelling evidence of the benefits associated with improving health and in an attempt to promote healthy lifestyles, the Bush Administration proposed the Healthier U.S. Initiative (Executive Order 13266) in 2002. The purpose of this initiative was to promote the use of public lands to improve personal health by encouraging their use for physical activity. Based on the recommendations of the National Park Service Advisory Board Subcommittee on Health & Recreation (2006), the C&O Canal National Historical Park (CHOH) was chosen to participate, as one of seven NPS sites, in a pilot study to research the link between health benefits and National Parks. The CHOH partnered with Georgetown University, George Washington University (GWU), and the Georgetown Business Improvement District (GBID) to target individuals who work in the Georgetown area of Washington, DC for participation in a multi-worksite employee wellness program. The program used an online website that included information about the availability of the CHOH towpath as one strategy to raise awareness of the use of the CHOH as an ideal location for engaging in physical activity, primarily walking. In addition, this project applied three interventions: social support, team competition, and theoretically derived messages (using the Theory of Planned Behavior) as methods to encourage participation in the program. Volunteer participants from the organizations noted above formed teams and competed to complete the overall goal of walking 185 miles during a seven week program. Individuals were also permitted and encouraged to participate in the program with a goal to walk at least 37 miles in the 7 weeks. This research pursued two objectives aimed at investigating the effects of social support and targeted messages on participant beliefs, attitudes and behaviors at CHOH. This study sought to: 1) increase awareness of park users about the health benefits derived from recreation in the park, and 2) increase their use of the Park for walking. Based on our evaluation, in general we found insufficient evidence of effectiveness of the C&O Canal NHP‘s program. However, evidence was found that the message flyer intervention had a statistically significant impact on walking, increasing the average days walked per week from 5 to 6 days. It appears that most participants chose to walk at other places than the C&O Canal NHP; however this project was unable to measure longterm outcomes to see if this increase in walking was maintained. In addition, the majority of participants were already active walkers, as well as knowledgeable about the use of National Parks for active recreation. Therefore, this would have limited the ability of the interventions to change awareness or behaviors. Future research should attempt to measure both short and long-term outcomes.

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