Changes to men’s walking and the contribution of walking to self-reported physical activity in the EuroFIT programme

(Publisert i Health education journal, vol. 84(3)) Open access

Gender-sensitive approaches to increasing men’s physical activity (PA) through sports settings have shown promise across cultural contexts. We examined changes to men’s walking and the contribution of walking towards self-reported PA after participating in the men-only European Fans in Training (EuroFIT) programme before exploring men’s experiences of sustaining walking to explain the quantitative findings.

Linear regression modelling demonstrated that self-reported walking was significantly higher at both post-programme (426 metabolic equivalents [METs], 95% confidence interval [CI]: 287–565, p < .001) and at 12-month follow-up (343 METs, 95% CI: 205–482, p < .001) in all countries in favour of the intervention group, despite a large decline in Norway from post-programme to follow-up. The contribution of walking towards total PA did not change after participating in EuroFIT. Qualitative analysis indicated that most men were positive about walking and had embodied learning from the EuroFIT programme, but also that some men also considered walking a transitional activity towards other more intensive forms of PA.