Sustainability of Physical Activity Interventions: What do we Know about it?

Dear Colleagues,

Sustaining effective health interventions is essential to create a real impact on population health. Despite its importance, there is a “near absence of studies” focusing primarily on the sustainability of effective health interventions. The World Health Organization and ExpandNet have exhorted researchers, policymakers, and funders to sustain evidence-based health interventions.

Regular physical activity (PA) is an effective primary and secondary preventative strategy for reducing the risks of at least 25 chronic medical conditions. Approximately 25% of adults fail to meet recommended PA guidelines, with the prevalence of insufficient activity being considerably higher for youth (87–95%), older adults (88%), and those in lower income countries. Many PA interventions have been implemented over the years, and some have effectively increased levels of PA. Notably, though, only a few studies have been sustained, and policymakers and other stakeholders are increasingly concerned with the long-term impact of their investment.

This Special Issue is designed to provide an interdisciplinary and international forum for reporting the latest findings on topics to advance our understanding of how to sustain the health impact and implementation of effective interventions within the context of physical activity promotion. Papers on all methods and approaches involving the following topics are welcome for this Special Issue:

• Health impact and implementation of physical activity interventions with a minimum study duration of 12 months;
• Definitions and evaluation metrics of sustainability in physical activity interventions;
• The process and implementation strategies to sustain health impact and implementation of physical activity interventions;
• Factors that influence the sustainability of physical activity interventions;
• Current status, challenges, and future directions of sustainability research in physical activity promotion.

Dr. Erica Lau
Prof. Guy Faulkner
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• physical activity
• implementation research
• dissemination
• behavioral maintenance
• long-term effectiveness