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Wheeling Walks

Also: WV Walks · BC Walks

West Virginia University campaign in Wheeling, WV (2001) that used paid TV, radio and newspaper ads plus publicity to get sedentary adults aged 50-65 to walk 30 minutes a day. It was replicated statewide as WV Walks and in Broome County, New York (BC Walks).

Years
2001–now
Country
United States
Topic
Physical activity
Asks people to
Start
Strategy
Self efficacySimple instruction
Channel
EventsPrintRadioTV
Audience
AdultsOlder adults
Sedentary adults aged 50-65.

Evidence

Quasi-experimentalPositive

Intervention vs comparison community (Reger 2002): observed walkers at 10 sites rose 23% in Wheeling with no change in the comparison town (OR 1.31). 32% of previously sedentary Wheeling adults reported meeting the walking recommendation vs 18% in the comparison community (OR 2.12). Follow-up to 12 months found changes sustained among the most sedentary.

Sponsor (who paid)

  • West Virginia University Academic, developer and evaluator

Credits (who made it)

Not recorded yet.

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Reger B et al. Wheeling Walks: a community campaign using paid media to encourage walking among sedentary older adults. Prev Med 2002;35(3):285-92 evaluation · 2002 · DOI 10.1006/pmed.2002.1074 · PMID 12202072
  2. Reger-Nash B et al. Wheeling walks: evaluation of a media-based community intervention. Fam Community Health 2005;28(1):64-78 evaluation · 2005 · DOI 10.1097/00003727-200501000-00009 · PMID 15625507
  3. Reger-Nash B et al. WV Walks: replication with expanded reach. J Phys Act Health 2008;5(1):19-27 reference · 2008 · DOI 10.1123/jpah.5.1.19 · PMID 18209251
  4. Reger-Nash B et al. BC Walks: replication of a communitywide physical activity campaign. Prev Chronic Dis 2006;3(3):A90 reference · 2006 · PMID 16776891
  5. Barnes R. Does the built environment moderate the impact of mass media campaigns for physical activity? (PhD thesis, University of Western Australia) 2013 evaluation · 2013

Research notes

Created 2026-10-22 by literature mining (PubMed/OpenAlex); evidence level, outcome and findings are paraphrased from the evaluation abstracts, full texts not read. No credits: no page naming an agency was checked. Start year 2001 from secondary sources; confirm in Reger 2002 full text. Corrected 2026-10-22: summary said BC Walks ran in British Columbia; Reger-Nash 2006 (PMID 16776891, abstract read via NCBI efetch) places it in Broome County, New York (pop. 200,536), adults 40-65, quasi-experimental with a comparison county: 16% vs 11% became active walkers (aOR 1.71, 0.99-2.95) and 47% vs 36% increased weekly walking (aOR 1.66, 1.14-2.44); smaller effects than Wheeling. Added 'BC Walks' to alternateNames. Barnes 2013 thesis (OpenAlex W2802969423, no DOI; repository PDF returned 403, abstract from OpenAlex) re-analyses WV Walks and BC Walks with Find Thirty every day for built-environment moderation. Evidence unchanged. Evaluation links reviewed 2026-10-22: BC Walks (Broome County NY, 2006) and WV Walks (2008) set to reference; they evaluate replications elsewhere, not the Wheeling campaign.

Record cases/wheeling-walks.json, updated 2026-10-22· Link to this campaign