Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Medical Sociology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany.
Department of Sport Science and Sport, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
Front Public Health. 2022 Jul 27;10:867626. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.867626. eCollection 2022.
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an effective health promotion approach for reaching socially disadvantaged groups. However, there is limited evidence on how such interventions and their effects can be reproduced across time and place. The present study examines the effects of BIG (i.e., movement as an investment in health), a long-standing German CBPR project. Since 2005, BIG has aimed to empower women in difficult life situations to increase control over their health determinants and reduce social inequalities by promoting physical activity. One of BIG's key features is its implementation in several German municipalities since 2005. This study explores (a) whether participation could change women's empowerment, and (b) how increased empowerment affects other areas of women's lives.
With a total of 63 interviewees (i.e., 40 participating women, 7 trainers, 3 project coordinators, and 13 stakeholders), we conducted 53 semi-structured qualitative interviews in five BIG communities between 2007 and 2011. Some interviews were conducted with two people simultaneously. The interview guide contained questions on various dimensions of empowerment (e.g., project engagement, increased self-efficacy, and developed competencies). Framework analysis was used for the analytical process.
BIG contributed to women's empowerment in various ways, including increased self-efficacy, social network promotion, competency development, and increased motivation to change physical activity behavior. Women who took on added tasks and became more involved in project planning also strengthened their organizational empowerment. Furthermore, increased empowerment had a positive influence on the women's quality of life, family, and professional lives.
The novel findings helped in understanding the effects of a complex empowerment-based approach that promoted physical activity among women in difficult life situations. Future research should focus on the long-term effects of these programs and their transferability to other sites. Further effort is necessary in the area of public health policy.
基于社区的参与式研究（CBPR）是一种有效的健康促进方法，可用于接触社会弱势群体。然而，关于如何在时间和地点上复制此类干预措施及其效果的证据有限。本研究考察了长期的德国 CBPR 项目 BIG（即，将运动视为对健康的投资）的效果。自 2005 年以来，BIG 旨在通过促进身体活动，增强处于困境中的妇女对其健康决定因素的控制能力，并减少社会不平等，从而增强妇女的权能。BIG 的一个关键特征是自 2005 年以来在德国的几个城市实施。本研究探讨了（a）参与是否可以改变妇女的赋权，以及（b）赋权的增加如何影响妇女生活的其他领域。
我们共采访了 63 名受访者（即 40 名参与的女性、7 名培训师、3 名项目协调员和 13 名利益相关者），于 2007 年至 2011 年间在五个 BIG 社区进行了 53 次半结构化定性访谈。有些访谈是由两个人同时进行的。访谈指南包含了关于赋权的各个方面的问题（例如，项目参与、自我效能感提高和能力发展）。我们使用框架分析进行分析过程。
BIG 通过多种方式促进了妇女的赋权，包括提高自我效能感、促进社交网络、发展能力和提高改变身体活动行为的动机。承担额外任务并更多地参与项目规划的妇女也增强了她们的组织赋权。此外，赋权的增加对妇女的生活质量、家庭和职业生活产生了积极影响。
这些新发现有助于理解促进处于困境中的妇女进行身体活动的复杂赋权方法的效果。未来的研究应关注这些项目的长期效果及其在其他地点的可转移性。在公共卫生政策领域需要进一步努力。
