Abstract
The Cooperative Research, Education, and Extension Service facilitated on a national level by U.S.D.A. provide a dissemination system to translate research-based strategies to practice within communities. Within the State of Kansas, county office employ agents whose mission includes improving community and behavioral health. These agents have the opportunity to model positive health behaviors, such as physical activity, for the county residents that they serve. Purpose: To determine the prevalence of Kansas' county health agents who meet the CDC/ASCM guidelines for physical activity and the relationship between activity level and agent self-efficacy for, and value of, physical activity. Methods: Of the 105 counties in Kansas, 14 did not currently have agents. Hence, 91 county agents (95% female, Mage = 43 ± 11.2 years) complete a telephone interview that included the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey physical activity questions as the behavioral outcome. Based upon these questions agents were categorized as sedentary, active but not meeting CDC/ACSM recommendations, or meeting CDC/ACSM recommendations for regular physical activity. Self-efficacy reflected the agent's confidence in his/her ability to complete varying frequencies of moderate and vigorous intensity physical activity. Seven items that reflected the importance of regular physical activity when compared to other health behaviors were used to assess value. Results: 53% of the agents were currently meeting ACSM/CDC recommendations, 37% were active but not meeting recommendations, and 10% were sedentary. The agents had moderate perceptions of self-efficacy (M = 62.5 ± 23.6) and valued physical activity slightly less than other health behaviors (M = 12.2 ± 2.0; 14 reflects equal value). Finally, a hierarchical regression analysis revealed that self-efficacy (β = .41, p < .05) predicted significant variance in level of physical activity (R2 = .25, F(2,88) = 14.87, p < .01). Conclusion: The prevalence of regular physical activity is higher in county agents than in the population at large. However, a large proportion of county health agents do not meet the current recommendations for physical activity and as such could be targeted for intervention. Further, self-efficacy and value of physical activity provide potential mechanisms to target for behavior change strategies used for this population. Supported by the Kansas Social and Rehabilitative Services: FNP 536878
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