Collaborative Development of an Instrument to Monitor Physical Activity Promotion Based on Policy-Makers’ Needs – the TARGET:PA Tool

Background: To support policy development, a number of tools are available to inform policy-makers about the current status of physical activity (PA) promotion in a specific country. However, a recent exchange between policy-makers and researchers in Germany revealed two major gaps: First, examples of successful good practice projects are often not selected in an objective and systematic process. Second, there is usually no systematic assessment of “routine practice,” ie, PA promotion activities already taking place on large scale and regular basis. These issues are addressed by the newly developed TARGET:PA tool. Methods: The TARGET:PA tool was developed in a co-production process involving researchers from the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Physical Activity and Public Health (WHO CC) at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and the policy unit in charge of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and non-communicable diseases at the German Ministry of Health. We documented the development process, details on the structure of the tool itself, and the outputs produced using the tool. Results: The development process involved a negotiation process between researchers and policy-makers and the need to adapt to extended decision-making timelines within the ministry. With regard to PA behavior at the individual level, the TARGET:PA tool includes an overview about (1) PA recommendations and (2) national PA prevalence rates. At the organizational/policy level, it contains information on (3) recommendations for PA promotion, (4) routine practice, (5) good practice projects, and (6) policies. Key outputs of the tool are policy briefs as well as scientific background documents. Conclusion: The TARGET:PA tool provides added value as it can support the integration of “good” and “routine” practices into the monitoring of PA promotion. While the tool has been developed and tested in Germany, it has the potential to be adapted to other countries, either by directly utilizing the tool or by emulating the collaborative development process to design new instruments adapted to specific contexts.