aimed to reduce sedentary behavior (as opposed to only increasing physical activity) in adults, let alone women living in socio- economically disadvantaged neighborhoods [19,20]. Of the small number of intervention studies that have targeted reductions in sedentary behavior amongst adults, a large proportion included strategies that were predominantly focused on changing physical activity behavior [21,22]. To our knowledge, no previous studies have tested the perceived feasibility and effectiveness of in- tervention strategies aimed at increasing physical activity and reducing sedentary behavior amongst women living in socio- economically disadvantaged areas. This study aimed to investigate the perceived feasibility of two proposed intervention approaches (one print-based and one web- based) designed to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior amongst women living in socio-economically disadvan- taged areas. Further, the study aimed to investigate the feasibility of the two proposed intervention strategies amongst a small sample of key stakeholders representing public policy, health promotion, and community health and well-being. The development of the intervention strategies in this study were informed by a previous study of women living in disadvantaged neighborhoods with depressive symptoms, whereby women identified several potential strategies that they felt would help increase their levels of physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior [23]. Potential strategies included: the provision of information on available facilities to be active in the neighborhood; wider variety of classes/facilities and social exercise groups; awareness-raising of the benefits of physical activity; learning time management skills; provision of childcare facilities (e.g. more one-hour care facilities); and new mother’s exercise groups. Similar strategies (e.g. information/education, variety of activities/classes and social activities) have also been previously suggested by ‘priority groups’ of women who had participated in the WALK Pilot Program [24]. Since qualitative methods are useful for investigating areas in which little is known, the qualitative design of the current study was selected in order to provide rich insights for the development of feasible strategies to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior amongst women living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Methods Ethics Statement This study was approved by the Deakin University Human Research Ethics Committee. Written consent was obtained from all participants. Participants During May 2010, participants were randomly recruited from one urban Victorian neighborhood of low socio-economic position, based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics - Socioeco- nomic Index for Areas [25]. Address and neighborhood data were obtained using the spatial data files VicMap Address and VicMap Admin. Residential addresses within the selected neighborhood were identified and extracted using Geographic Information System (GIS) software (ESRI: ArcGIS 9.2. Redlands, CA 2007). The database enclosing all residential addresses for the selected neighborhood was used to randomly select 850 households. Qualitative questionnaires were mailed to those 850 households and women living in a selected household and aged 18 or over were invited to participate. Where there was more than one eligible woman living in a household, the woman with the next birthday was asked to participate. Furthermore, two local community/neighborhood houses agreed to display recruitment posters with contact information for the study on their notice- Promoting Physical Activity in Disadvantaged Women boards. From the 850 qualitative questionnaires sent out, a total of 67 were classified as return to sender (due to insufficient address); 37 women returned a completed qualitative questionnaire representing a response rate of 5%. The recruitment posters in the community/neighborhood house/centre did not result in any contacts from women. Since socioeconomically disadvantaged groups are typically harder to reach, rather than require a multi- step approach to recruitment (e.g. advertise, require a response by participants in order to then be sent qualitative surveys, etc), we tried to make it a simpler approach by providing all the required study materials in a single step so they could see immediately what was involved and that participating only involved one step/ response. A second group of participants, consisting of representatives from stakeholder organisations within the same neighborhood whose roles included public policy, health promotion, or community health and well-being were also selected to participate in the current study (n = 8). Of the eight key stakeholders selected and contacted, seven agreed to participate with five returning a completed qualitative questionnaire (recruitment details are described below). Recruitment Households selected for the study were sent a survey pack in the mail, including a letter informing recipients that their household had been selected to take part in the study. The pack also included two pilot intervention strategies (one print-based information booklet and one web-based activity calendar with instructions), a qualitative questionnaire and a reply-paid envelope. Following the Dilman protocol [26], a reminder letter was mailed out to selected households two weeks later. Key local stakeholders within the study neighborhood were identified from organisations (local council, health promotion organisations, and neighborhood/ community houses) that had direct involvement in promoting health and wellbeing in the community. A letter of invitation was sent to seven key stakeholders and followed up with a telephone call two weeks later. Stakeholders who agreed to participate were then sent a survey pack in the mail. Intervention Materials Both interventions were developed incorporating elements from the social ecological model [27] (i.e. intra-personal, social and environmental factors such as increasing knowledge, providing opportunities for social support and information on available physical activity facilities in the area) as well as successful behavior change strategies (e.g. goal-setting, self-monitoring) identified in reviews including adults [28,29] and previous studies amongst women [17,30]. A previous qualitative study by Teychenne et al. [23] further informed the conception and development of strategies to be tested. Information booklet. The information booklet was a 15- page locally relevant booklet designed and tailored specifically for the selected study neighborhood. It provided information about why it is important to be physically active and reduce sitting time, practical ideas to increase levels of physical activity and reduce sitting time, availability of facilities to exercise in the neighborhood (including women-only facilities, recreational clubs, places to walk your dog, exercise options for new mothers, as well as safer areas to exercise), and availability of childcare facilities in the specific study neighborhood. The booklet was designed to require minimal reading, used simple language and was visually appealing (e.g. included numerous pictures of the local area). Online activity calendar. The online activity calendar was a print off of a ‘mock’ website designed to allow users to log on and PLOS ONE | www.plosone.org 2 November 2012 | Volume 7 | Issue 11 | e49583