%0 Journal Article
%T Policy assessment and policy development for physical activity promotion: results of an exploratory intervention study in 15 European Nations
%A Alfred R¨¹tten
%A Karim Abu-Omar
%A Peter Gelius
%A Susie Dinan-Young
%A Kerstin Fr£¿ndin
%A Marijke Hopman-Rock
%A Archie Young
%J Health Research Policy and Systems
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1478-4505-10-14
%X 248 semi-standardized interviews with policy-makers were conducted in 15 European nations. The questionnaire assessed policy-makers' perceptions of organizational goals, resources, obligations, as well as organizational, political and public opportunities in the area of physical activity promotion among older people. In order to develop policies, workshops with policy-makers were conducted. Workshop outputs and outcomes were assessed for four nations nine months after the workshops.Policy assessment: Results of the policy assessment were diverse across nations and policy sectors. For example, organizational goals regarding actions for physical activity promotion were perceived as being most favorably by the sports sector. Organizational obligations for the development of such policies were perceived as being most favorably by the health sector.Policy development: The workshops resulted in different outputs: a national intersectoral action plan (United Kingdom), a national alliance (Sweden), an integrated policy (the Netherlands), and a continuing dialogue (Germany).Theory-driven policy assessment and policy-maker workshops might be an important means of scientific engagement in policy development for health promotion.The World Health Organisation (WHO) states that health policies "arise from a systematic process of building support for public health action that draws upon available evidence, integrated with community preferences, political realities and resource availability" [1]. However, attempts of scientists to engage policy-makers in the development of health policies have been described as dancing with a "whirling dervish" and sometimes as failing altogether [2,3]. This article sets out to report on a European research project that attempted to assess and develop evidence-based, organizational policies for the promotion of physical activity among older people.Difficulties of scientific engagement in processes of policy development may be rooted partly in the p
%K Physical activity
%K Policy assessment
%K Policy development
%K Theoretical model
%K Questionnaire
%K Older people
%U http://www.health-policy-systems.com/content/10/1/14