Project Summary

General objectives

The general objective of the project ALPHA is to provide a set of instruments for assessing levels of physical activity, its underlying factors (e.g. build environment, transport, and workplace) as well as fitness in a comparable way within the European Union. By making available such improved information this will assist further health policy planning and eventually help to improve levels of physical activity.

The strategic objectives consist of:

  • Improving and extending an existing questionnaire to measure current physical activity levels including physical activity related to active transport, work place, as well as environmental aspects related to physical activity;
  • Developing standard operating procedures for the objective assessment of levels of physical activity in the population across the European Member States;
  • Developing and testing effective and harmonized measurements for assessing physical activity promoting/discouraging urban environments in European Member States;
  • Developing and testing harmonized measurements of transport related physical activity in European Member States;
  • Determining a consensus test method for health related fitness, feasible for population based monitoring among children and adolescents in European Member countries;
  • Communicating relevant information to identified stakeholders;
  • Organizing a major public event informing stakeholders, national authorities, European networks and the public.

Outcomes:

The overall outcomes consist of the following:

  • Reaching a consensus on a questionnaire measure for assessing levels of physical activity;
  • Reaching a consensus on the questionnaire module on transport related physical activity by an expert panel;
  • Reaching a consensus on the feasibility of the questionnaire module on urban environmental promoters or barriers to physical activity by an expert panel;
  • Drafting recommendations on how to assess levels of physical activity in children;
  • Issuing recommendations on the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) data to assess urban characteristics promoting or preventing physical activity;
  • Reaching a consensus on the feasibility of a European test for assessing health-related fitness by an expert panel;
  • Publishing a summary booklet stating the results of assessment method development, testing, and expert consultations as well as recommendations.

Based on the above mentioned objectives and outcomes, the work programme of ALPHA has been structured in work components according to the particular thematic fields. All work components share the same approach:

  • Performing a literature overview of the field, focusing on existing methodologies, instruments, procedures, approaches as well as their advantages and disadvantages;
  • Since not all experiences are published, a survey should be distributed among member states to find out which instruments, procedures, approaches are already in use. What are the experiences, findings, impracticalities, etc.
  • Experts in the field should be identified, if not already known;
  • The results of literature overview and survey should be discussed among experts;
  • A consensus should be found about one instrument, procedure, approach, which can be used in European Member countries to deliver comparable results;
  • The instrument/ procedure should be tested within the limit of the available resources of ALPHA;
  • Recommendations should be drafted;
  • A book chapter should outline the work done, the results found, the outcome of the consensus process and the recommendations given;

For further information regarding the separate work packages, please see Work packages.