3 WINS Fitness: A pilot study of a park-based program for low-income communities

Abstract

Three-quarters of American adults do not meet recommended guidelines for physical activity. This article presents results from a pilot study of 3 WINS Fitness (“3 WINS”), a free, park-based program for adults that started in 2011 at California State University, Northridge. The program is operated by kinesiology student interns. The pilot study took place in one large park in Los Angeles and included three sessions per week for 10 weeks. Methods: The main outcome was change in BMI after the 10-week program. We collected pre-post data on 66 participants. Change in BMI was examined for the sample as a whole and by normal weight, overweight, and obese classifications. Results: We found a small but significant decrease in BMI at program completion; however, there appeared to be less improvement for participants who were obese. Acceptability of the program was high. Most participants (78.5%) attended 50% of sessions or more. Conclusions: 3 WINS is a promising health promotion program that has the potential to be sustainable and scalable. Implementation of 3 WINS at the site of this pilot study has remained active since 2011. The sustainability of 3 WINS is facilitated by integrating the program into university kinesiology programs, creating partnerships with local parks, and reducing reliance on external funding to implement the program. The program has been adopted by numerous parks throughout Southern California and several universities throughout California.