Mall Walking Program Environments, Features, and Participants: A Scoping Review

Details

• Journal Article:
  Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD)
• Personal Author:
  Farren, Laura ; Belza, Basia ; Allen, Peg ; Brolliar, Sarah ; Brown, David R. ; Cormier, Marc L. ; Janicek, Sarah ; Jones, Dina L. ; King, Diane K. ; Marquez, David X. ; Rosenberg, Dori E.
• Description:
  Introduction
  
  Walking is a preferred and recommended physical activity for middle-aged and older adults, but many barriers exist, including concerns about safety (ie, personal security), falling, and inclement weather. Mall walking programs may overcome these barriers. The purpose of this study was to summarize the evidence on the health-related value of mall walking and mall walking programs.
  
  Methods
  
  We conducted a scoping review of the literature to determine the features, environments, and benefits of mall walking programs using the RE-AIM framework (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance). The inclusion criteria were articles that involved adults aged 45 years or older who walked in indoor or outdoor shopping malls. Exclusion criteria were articles that used malls as laboratory settings or focused on the mechanics of walking. We included published research studies, dissertations, theses, conference abstracts, syntheses, nonresearch articles, theoretical papers, editorials, reports, policy briefs, standards and guidelines, and nonresearch conference abstracts and proposals. Websites and articles written in a language other than English were excluded.
  
  Results
  
  We located 254 articles on mall walking; 32 articles met our inclusion criteria. We found that malls provided safe, accessible, and affordable exercise environments for middle-aged and older adults. Programmatic features such as program leaders, blood pressure checks, and warm-up exercises facilitated participation. Individual benefits of mall walking programs included improvements in physical, social, and emotional well-being. Limited transportation to the mall was a barrier to participation.
  
  Conclusion
  
  We found the potential for mall walking programs to be implemented in various communities as a health promotion measure. However, the research on mall walking programs is limited and has weak study designs. More rigorous research is needed to define best practices for mall walking programs’ reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adult Aged Commerce Comparative Effectiveness Research Diffusion Of Innovation Environment Design Female Health Behavior Health Promotion Health Services Research Humans Male Middle Aged Models, Organizational Program Evaluation Quality Of Life Systematic Review Walking

  More +
• Source:
  Prev Chronic Dis. 12.
• DOI:
  http://dx.doi.org/10.5888/pcd12.150027
• ISSN:
  1545-1151
• Pubmed ID:
  26270743
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4552141
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Volume:
  12
• Collection(s):
  Preventing Chronic Disease
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:41d691850ed46bbe7856abe8f030e599d17fe4ca59980252fbc23e5dffa36a02ba4150d1290b7eb2b00d19ef14d3e3b199eceb4fb89c9b65986e3392520c71e4
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/34227/cdc_34227_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 409.55 KB ]