Promoting Physical Activity and Reducing Sedentary Behavior in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods: A Qualitative Study of What Women Want Megan Teychenne*, Kylie Ball, Jo Salmon Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, Burwood, Victoria, Australia Abstract Since women living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely to be physically inactive and engage in higher levels of sedentary behavior than women living in more advantaged neighborhoods, it is important to develop and test the feasibility of strategies aimed to promote physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior amongst this high-risk target group. Thirty-seven women (aged 19–85) living in a disadvantaged neighborhood, and five key stakeholders, received a suite of potential intervention materials and completed a qualitative questionnaire assessing the perceived feasibility of strategies aimed to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior. Thematic analyses were performed. Women perceived the use of a locally-relevant information booklet as a feasible strategy to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior. Including weight-loss information was suggested to motivate women to be active. Half the women felt the best delivery method was mailed leaflets. Other suggestions included reference books and websites. Many women mentioned that an online activity calendar was motivational but too time-consuming to commit to. Most women preferred the information booklet as a strategy to increase physical activity/reduce sedentary behavior, yet several suggested that using the booklet together with the online calendar may be more effective. These findings make an important contribution to research informing the development of intervention strategies to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior amongst women living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Citation: Teychenne M, Ball K, Salmon J (2012) Promoting Physical Activity and Reducing Sedentary Behavior in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods: A Qualitative Study of What Women Want. PLoS ONE 7(11): e49583. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049583 Editor: Robert L. Newton, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, United States of America Received June 19, 2012; Accepted October 12, 2012; Published November 14, 2012 Copyright: 2012 Teychenne et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Funding: This work was supported by the National Heart Foundation of Australia Postgraduate Scholarship (Public Health) [PP 07M 3388 to MT], the National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship [ID 479513 to KB] and the National Health and Medical Research Council Principal Research Fellowship [APP1026216 to JS]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. * E-mail: mteych@deakin.edu.au Introduction Participating in physical activity [1] and engaging in lower levels of sedentary behavior [2] (i.e. sitting behaviors that expend very low levels of energy (1–1.5 METS) [3]) have been found to be independently associated with a lower risk of chronic diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Women living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods are at an increased risk of physical inactivity [4,5] and also of engaging in greater amounts of sedentary behavior [6,7], independent of individual level socioeconomic indicators. For example, those living in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods have been found to spend on average 28 hours per week engaged in screen time (i.e. television viewing and computer use - the most common leisure- time sedentary behaviours), which is an additional 7 hours per week compared to those living in neighborhoods of high socioeconomic position [6]. These inequities may be partly explained by disadvantaged neighborhoods having poorer urban design [5], poorer accessibility of facilities and higher perceived levels of crime [8] compared to more advantaged neighborhoods. Since inactivity-related illnesses have also been linked to living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods [9,10,11] it is important to identify effective intervention strategies to increase physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior amongst this high risk group. Little research has aimed to investigate the most effective strategies to increase physical activity interventions amongst women living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods [12], and of the existing intervention evidence in this and other disadvantaged target groups, most studies have focussed on women in the United States from racial/ethnic minority back- grounds [13]. Further, although print-based materials have generally been useful as support strategies for increasing physical activity in adults [14], the feasibility of print-based materials to increase physical activity specifically amongst women living in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods is not known. There has been increasing interest in recent years in web-based physical activity interventions [15] with several being found to be successful in increasing women’s physical activity levels [16,17]. Although programs such as the Women’s Active Living Kits (WALK) Pilot Program [18] have used web-based components to promote physical activity amongst ‘priority groups’ of women (including women with young children, older women, and culturally and linguistically diverse groups), to date, no web-based physical activity interventions have been designed specifically for, and assessed among women living in socioeconomically disadvan- taged neighbourhoods. Very few intervention strategies have PLOS ONE | www.plosone.org 1 November 2012 | Volume 7 | Issue 11 | e49583