TY - JOUR
T1 - Physical Activity Policies at National and Subnational Levels
T2 - A Study in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Mexico
AU - Grueso, Juliana Mejía
AU - Pratt, Michael
AU - Resendiz, Eugen
AU - Salvo, Deborah
AU - Cruz, Gloria Isabel Niño
AU - Gómez, Nubia Yaneth Ruiz
AU - Gómez, Rafael Alexander Leandro
AU - Sánchez, Inés Revuelta
AU - Vargas, Gerardo Alonso Araya
AU - Avilés, Angélica María Ochoa
AU - Tasigchana, Raúl Francisco Pérez
AU - Jáuregui, Alejandra
AU - Hallal, Pedro C.
AU - Varela, Andrea Ramírez
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Human Kinetics, Inc.
PY - 2024/5
Y1 - 2024/5
N2 - Background: National physical activity (PA) policy processes are only beginning to be studied in Latin America, and little attention has focused at the subnational level. This study examined national–subnational relations in the policy process (agenda setting, policy formulation, adoption, implementation, and evaluation) in selected Latin American countries. Methods: The Global Observatory for Physical Activity’s (GoPA!) INTEGRATE-PA-Pol tool was applied in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Mexico. Data were collected in matched pairs of the capital plus one noncapital city among national and subnational policymakers (n = 27), previously identified by the GoPA! Country Contacts. PA policy development and implementation were assessed using descriptive statistics. Results: Twenty-three (response rate = 85.2%) informants provided data, mainly from the health sector (52.2%), followed by the sport (26.1%), transport (13.0%), and education (8.7%) sectors. Most informants reported that their countries had a current PA policy embedded within noncommunicable diseases prevention plans (46.2%), other plans (46.2%), or obesity prevention/management/control plans (7.7%). Respondents at the subnational level rated PA promotion as central (64.3%), while the national-level role was important but not central (75.0%). National and subnational policymakers indicated low-to-little involvement in the other level’s PA policy processes across the 5 policy stages. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that collecting national and subnational PA policy data across countries with the active collaboration of the GoPA! network was feasible. We also successfully identified governmental interactions throughout the PA policy process, suggesting suboptimal engagement between national and subnational levels.
AB - Background: National physical activity (PA) policy processes are only beginning to be studied in Latin America, and little attention has focused at the subnational level. This study examined national–subnational relations in the policy process (agenda setting, policy formulation, adoption, implementation, and evaluation) in selected Latin American countries. Methods: The Global Observatory for Physical Activity’s (GoPA!) INTEGRATE-PA-Pol tool was applied in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Mexico. Data were collected in matched pairs of the capital plus one noncapital city among national and subnational policymakers (n = 27), previously identified by the GoPA! Country Contacts. PA policy development and implementation were assessed using descriptive statistics. Results: Twenty-three (response rate = 85.2%) informants provided data, mainly from the health sector (52.2%), followed by the sport (26.1%), transport (13.0%), and education (8.7%) sectors. Most informants reported that their countries had a current PA policy embedded within noncommunicable diseases prevention plans (46.2%), other plans (46.2%), or obesity prevention/management/control plans (7.7%). Respondents at the subnational level rated PA promotion as central (64.3%), while the national-level role was important but not central (75.0%). National and subnational policymakers indicated low-to-little involvement in the other level’s PA policy processes across the 5 policy stages. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that collecting national and subnational PA policy data across countries with the active collaboration of the GoPA! network was feasible. We also successfully identified governmental interactions throughout the PA policy process, suggesting suboptimal engagement between national and subnational levels.
KW - INTEGRATE PA-Pol
KW - Latin America
KW - epidemiology
KW - policy
KW - policymakers
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U2 - 10.1123/jpah.2023-0342
DO - 10.1123/jpah.2023-0342
M3 - Article
C2 - 38340713
AN - SCOPUS:85191896305
SN - 1543-3080
VL - 21
SP - 445
EP - 457
JO - Journal of Physical Activity and Health
JF - Journal of Physical Activity and Health
IS - 5
ER -