Improving women’s physical activity in the City of Casey: Breaking down barriers using co-design and participatory research. Evaluation Report to the City of Casey, March 2024

This research project actively engaged women to design physical activity programs in the City of Casey and provided knowledge to inform council decision-making and investment in community physical activity. Initally, four workshops were conducted with women (n=76) from culturally diverse backgrounds in the City of Casey to investigate the barriers they faced participating in physical activity and they co-designed solutions to improve participation. These women were also invited to complete a survey on their demographics, health, physical activity and barriers, to inform the design of physical activity programs (n=46 completed surveys). Following this, the Active Communities team at the City of Casey developed and facilitated the delivery of physical activity programs that would meet women’s interests and needs. This report is the second and final report to the City of Casey and summarises the evaluation findings from the co-design physical activity programs delivered in the City of Casey for adult women. A total of 21 women completed surveys (38% response rate) at two-time points: (1) after workshops and (2) 9 months later. A further three women participated in in-depth interviews about their lived experiences of attempting to overcome barriers to being physically active and taking part in the newly designed physical activities. Two council staff participated in an interview discussion to identify the scope of co-designed physical activity programs and the challenges and successes of undertaking a codesign approach.