Active Health Project Evaluation

The Active People Project aimed to increase physical activity and active travel amongst patients from four Highland GP practices. The project was funded through the Smarter Choices, Smarter Places (SCSP) Open Fund. Funded by the Scottish Government and delivered through Paths for All, the Smarter Choices, Smarter Places programme focusses on behaviour change, aiming to encourage
everyday walking or cycling and sustainable travel methods for longer journeys. Velocity Café and Bicycle Workshop applied for the funding for the ‘NHS Highland Active People Project’ and managed the project. Operating from its café and workshop in Inverness, Velocity is a social enterprise which promotes cycling as a way of helping people adopt healthier lifestyles, encourage sustainable travel
and improve emotional wellbeing. The Active People Project focussed on helping to motivate and engage patients who could gain individual health benefits though increasing their level of physical activity. In addition, by adopting active travel as an intervention, the project aimed to have an impact on the community’s health by increasing the use of more sustainable transport. At the end of October 2019, the project changed its title to the Active Health Project and this name is used
throughout the rest of the report. The Rural Health and Well-being team at the University of the Highland and Islands (UHI) undertook an evaluation of the Active Health Project, aiming to assess the impact of the pilot on patients’ physical activity and the effectiveness of the Link Worker role. This evaluation report gives a brief outline of the policy context, explains the methodology used by the research team, details the results of the quantitative and qualitative data analysis and, finally, presents conclusions about the project’s impact based on these findings.