Systematic review of physical activity promotion by community health workers.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the physical activity promotion in interventions conducted by community health workers.
METHODS: Systematic searches in five electronic databases (LILACS, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and SportDiscus) and manual searches in reference lists were conducted for papers published up until May 2014. The inclusion criteria were interventions delivered in adults by community health workers that had physical activity promotion as an objective (primary or secondary).
RESULTS: Of the 950 references initially retrieved, 26 were included in the descriptive synthesis. At the operational level, action strategies were predominantly based on the model of health education grounded in counseling, and delivered in populations at risk or diagnosed with chronic non-communicable diseases. Only five studies had the primary outcome of physical activity promotion and twenty-five studies used self-report methods for evaluation. The majority of studies (72.4%) were classified as having low or moderate risk of bias. Sixteen studies (61.5%) reported positive results for different parameters of physical activity. Most studies were carried out in the United States. The successful interventions were conducted over a period averaging 6.5 months and targeted mainly women, individuals older than thirty, specific ethnic groups, and syndromic or at-risk individuals.
CONCLUSIONS: The community health workers were important for physical activity promotion, but further interventions should be carried out in different countries and less specific samples, that include physical activity as a primary outcome and employ direct methods for assessing physical activity.