Reaching hard to engage groups with physical activity and exercise referral interventions

This chapter explains hard-to-engage groups and whether they are really hard to reach and discusses the public health case for reaching hard-to-engage groups with physical activity (PA). It considers how we engage hard-to-reach/engage populations in physical activity using exercise referral scheme (ERS). As health promoters have tried to develop an understanding of what people do not respond and why, their focus has shifted to individual characteristics that make up the profile of the potential non-adopters of health programmes. Activities reflect the outcomes from each club’s needs and community audit assessments, responding to local health priorities while working with available resources and timescales to make interventions operable. The secret is to get them started by giving them simple things that are doable, ideally surrounded by some positive social network, support or any tools they need to get the job done.