Department Chair Publishes Paper About Design of Social Network-Driven Walking Intervention

Evaluation & Program Planning’s October 2016 issue includes a paper about the design of a group-based social network driven walking intervention. The program, called “Sumter County on the Move!”, was based on community-based formative research in Sumter County, South Carolina. The work was funded through a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to support the University of South Carolina Prevention Research Center’s 2009-2015 Core Research Project (PI: Melinda Forthofer). Sumter County on the Move! is believed to be the first physical activity intervention to target increases in physical activity by mobilizing naturally occurring social networks. Dr. Forthofer was an on the faculty of the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina when the research was conducted.