Foundations of Physical Activity and Public Health

Foundations of Physical Activity and Public Health, Third Edition With HKPropel Access, is the first textbook of its kind to explore concepts in public health and kinesiology, measurement of physical activity, and the impact of exercise and physical activity on health. This text empowers students to advance the use of physical activity as a significant component in public health initiatives.

Presented in full color, Foundations of Physical Activity and Public Health uses tables, graphs, and figures to clarify complex topics, and it reflects information presented in the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. An underlying theme in this third edition is health equity and health disparities viewed through a physical activity lens. New sidebars devoted specifically to those topics are woven throughout the text, along with sidebars and references that have been refreshed with the latest information. Additional content updates to the third edition cover these topics:

• Brain health and immunity as they relate to physical activity and public health science
• The physical activity paradox hypothesis
• The current status of physical activity levels for children and adolescents
• Comprehensive community-wide programs to increase physical activity

Related online content is delivered through HKPropel to enhance student learning. The materials include downloadable review questions; a key term activity; web links to explore issues related to physical activity, exercise, and public health; three core assignments that align with the three parts of the book; and three assignments relevant to students seeking a Physical Activity and Public Health Specialist certification. To further tie theory to practice, case studies and callout boxes can be found throughout the text, and each chapter ends with a review. Leader Profile sidebars allow students to explore potential career paths.

Foundations of Physical Activity and Public Health will give students deeper insight into the impact of sedentary behavior and physical activity on health, including cardiorespiratory and metabolic diseases, weight status, musculoskeletal disorders, cancers, and brain health. Evidence-based strategies are examined using three general approaches--informational, behavioral and social, and environmental and policy--and examples of successful programs are showcased. A chapter on data collection and analysis describes strategies to measure and evaluate program and policy effectiveness, while discussion of real-world initiatives illustrates developing effective partnerships and models for advocacy.

As the emphasis on physical activity as a tool for improving public health grows, professionals with combined knowledge of both public health and exercise science will be highly sought. Foundations of Physical Activity and Public Health, Third Edition, will help students obtain an overview of kinesiology and public health areas, understand physical activity applications for public health, and learn about career options.

Note: A code for accessing HKPropel is included with all new print books.

Harold W. (Bill) Kohl, III, PhD (1960-2024) was a professor of epidemiology and kinesiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the University of Texas at Austin. At the University of Texas Health Science Center, Kohl served as the associate regional dean for academic affairs and international health affairs at the Austin regional campus.

Kohl’s efforts concentrated on national and international physical activity surveillance and epidemiology issues as well as program development and evaluation studies for the promotion of school-based physical activity for children and adolescents. He was a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the National Academy of Kinesiology and served as an elected trustee of ACSM. He was the founder and past president of the International Society for Physical Activity and Health (ISPAH) and served as the elected chair of the National Physical Activity Plan Alliance. He also served in an editorial capacity for several scientific journals and was editor emeritus of Journal of Physical Activity & Health. He published more than 200 papers, chapters, and monographs in the scientific literature. In 2018, he coauthored the textbook Foundations of Kinesiology. Kohl passed away during the writing of this third edition.

Tinker D. Murray, PhD, is a professor emeritus and honorary professor of international studies in health and human performance at Texas State University in San Marcos, where he served as the director of the exercise performance laboratory for more than 15 years. His research interests include school-based and clinical-based youth physical activity and interventions with public health linkages for the prevention of obesity and diabetes, continuing education opportunities for coaching education, and personal fitness and training applications related to exercise physiology.

Murray is a fellow emeritus of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and was certified as an ACSM program director. He was a two-time president of the Texas regional chapter of ACSM. He served on the national ACSM board of trustees from 1998 to 2001. In the fall of 2003, he was a guest researcher with Bill Kohl at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity. He has been actively involved with the International Society for Physical Activity and Health (ISPAH) and has attended several biannual meetings of the International Congress on Physical Activity and Public Health.

Murray retired from Texas State University in 2018. He remains academically active by contributing to scholarly presentations and publications that promote physical active lifestyles.

Deborah Salvo, PhD, is an associate professor of health behavior and health education in the department of kinesiology and health education at the University of Texas in Austin, where she also serves as the director of the Texas Center for Equity Promotion. She is a faculty affiliate of the Prevention Research Center in St. Louis and of the Center for Diabetes Translation Research at Washington University in St. Louis.

Salvo’s research interests and expertise center in the reduction of disparities in access to environments that enable physically active lifestyles. Her work focuses on understanding the relationship between the built environment and physical activity, documenting and ameliorating geospatial health disparities, and using and improving objective measures to quantify physical activity and geospatial exposures.

Salvo is the president-elect of the International Society for Physical Activity and Health (ISPAH), founded in 2008 by Bill Kohl as the first global scientific society focused on physical activity and public health research. She is part of the steering committee of the Global Observatory for Physical Activity and of the executive committee of the Global Observatory of Healthy and Sustainable Cities. She is a founding member and a conference chair of the Latin American Society of Physical Activity and Health Research.

Salvo serves as senior associate editor of Journal of Physical Activity & Health and as associate editor for Translational Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine. Throughout her career, she has served as a technical advisor on physical activity and the built environment for several agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Fogarty International Center within the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico, and the World Health Organization.