Unpacking the Black Box: A Deconstruction of the Programming Approach and Physical Activity Interventions Implemented in the Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Prevention Project

An ecological lens was used to deconstruct the programming approach and unpack physical activity interventions implemented through the Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Prevention Project. Despite a surge of interest in ecologically based health promotion programming, optimal combinations of interventions and programming approaches to promote community physical activity involvement have not been systematically studied. The authors obtained physical activity intervention descriptions through archive retrieval and face-to-face interviews with intervention staff. Programming approach, intervention targets, strategies for change, and delivery settings were assessed by applying the intervention analysis procedure to intervention descriptions. A complex intervention package was found containing a host of multitarget, multisetting intervention strategies designed and implemented through dynamic exchanges between a diversity of community partners. This study provides a first step toward better understanding community intervention packages and programming strategies for promoting physical activity involvement within a community setting.