• intervention coordinators, funders and policy makers when deciding on the future of PA interventions.

INTRODUCTION

To answer the question: “How do we successfully implement effectiveinterventions designed to reduce physical inactivity in Ireland?”

OBJECTIVES

METHODS

RESULTS

• I-PARC highlights the need for effective partnerships and buy in from various sectors inorder to promote PA

• The project is securing significant support for the development of a pragmaticevaluation framework that can be suitable for real world application and useful forvarious stakeholders

• Gathering information from those involved in the delivery of PA interventions willprovide valuable insight into the facilitators and barriers of implementation

• The collaboration leads to the transfer of knowledge for all parties, reducing the gapbetween research, practice and policy

DISCUSSION

1Physical Activity for Health Cluster, Health Research Institute, Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Limerick, Ireland; 2Department of Health, Dublin, Ireland; 3Sport Ireland, Dublin, Ireland; 4Health Service Executive, Dublin, Ireland; 5School of Health Sciences, Waterford Institute of Technology,

Ireland; 6School of Sport, Ulster University, Jordanstown Campus, Northern Ireland; 7Department of Education, Dublin, Ireland; 8Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Dublin, Ireland; 9Health and Social Care, Public Health Agency, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Figure 1. Adapted from the NIRN Framework

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would also like to thank the members of the I-PARC team,research collaboration, the practitioner advisory group andfunders.

REFERENCES 1. World Health Organization, A European Framework to Promote Physical

Activity for Health. Copenhagen, Denmark; 2007. 2. Woods CB, Powell C, Saunders JA, O’Brien W, Murphy MH, Duff C, Farmer O,

Johnston A., Connolly S. and Belton S. (2018). The Children’s Sport Participation and Physical Activity Study 2018 (CSPPA 2018). https://www.sportireland.ie/Research/CSPPA%20Final%20Report.pdf

3. Dublin, Ireland and Sport Northern Ireland, Belfast, Northern Ireland.SportIreland. (2017). Irish Sports Monitor Annual Report 2017. Ipsos MRBI.

4. Turner, N., Donoghue, O., Kenny, RA. (2018). Wellbeing and Health in Ireland’s over 50s 2009-2016.

5. Department of Health (2016) Healthy Ireland - Get Ireland Active! National physical activity plan for Ireland. http://www.getirelandactive.ie/Professionals/National-PA-Plan.pdf.

6. Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport (2018). National Sports Policy 2018 - 2027. http://www.dttas.ie/sites/default/files/publications/sport/english/national-sports-policy-2018-2027/national-sports-policy-2018.pdf.

7. National Implementation Research Network (2013). The Active Implementation Hub: Module 2 - Implementation Drivers.

8. Bauman, A., & Nutbeam, D. (2013). Evaluation in a nutshell: a practical guide to the evaluation of health promotion programs. Mcgraw hill.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Joey.Murphy@ul.ie @JoeyJMurphy

Jemima.Cooper@ul.ie @JemBonQuiQui

Find out more at i-parc.ie or follow the project on twitter @IPARC_1

Effective

Interventions

Effective

Implementation

Enabling

Contexts Enabling

Contexts

• Regular physical activity (PA) is known to have many health benefits, making its promotiona key component of health promotion strategies worldwide 1.

• Although PA guidelines are reported in Ireland, insufficient numbers of children (13.5%)2,adults (32.6%) 3 and older adults (33%) 4 achieve them.

• In Ireland, the need for increased PA levels are emphasised by the National PhysicalActivity Plan (NPAP) 5 and the National Sports Policy 6.

• Guided by the National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) framework 7 (Figure 1),the Irish Physical Activity Research Collaboration (I-PARC) was established to play a keyrole in contributing to the outcomes of the NPAP.

Figure 1. Adapted from the NIRN Framework

Effective

Interventions

Effective

Implementation

Enabling

Contexts

Increased

population PA

levels

Update and key learnings from the Irish Physical Activity Research Collaboration

I-PARC uses a mixed methods approach through a partnership.

WP1

WP1 seeks to establish a

collaboration of key stakeholders in order

to enable effective knowledge translation.

WP2

WP2 involves the development of a

standardised evaluation framework (SEF) for assessing PA

interventions.

WP3

WP3 combines survey and interview methods to understand

implementation barriers and

facilitators of PA interventions in

Ireland

Research Advisory Panel

Practitioner Advisory Group

Participation events, social media and an I-PARC website have been successful for the

dissemination of the project aims, updates and outputs

Work on the SEF has led to key learnings around

creating a tool that is both effective and usable in

practice 8

Two surveys for examining factors related to

implementation have been developed and piloted. These

will be administered to service coordinators and

providers.

I-PARC has created a collaboration of key

stakeholders involved with PA promotion

across various sectors

Research Institutes

Government Departments & Agencies

PractitionersPA

Research Institutes Government Departments Government Agencies

Project Team

I-PARC is split into three work packages (WPs):

Joseph J Murphy1, Jemima Cooper1, Fiona Mansergh2, Benny Cullen3, Sarah O’Brien 4, Niamh Murphy 5, Marie H Murphy6, Shirley O’Shea, Peter Smyth2, Vydehi Muppavarapu2, Ronan Kielt7, James Lavelle8, Colette Brolly 9,

Enrique G Bengoechea1 and Catherine B Woods 1.