The EuroFIT program: an overview
The EuroFIT program was designed to support men to: become more physically active and less sedentary; improve their diets; and maintain these changes over the long term. It was delivered over 12, weekly, 90-min sessions that combined ‘classroom’ discussion, including ‘tools’ for behaviour change, with group-based physical activity. All sessions were led by football club community coaches. Full details of EuroFIT are published including a description of the program in the TIDieR template [EuroFIT Theory of ChangeRelational, physical and financial resources are needed to implement EuroFIT, including professional football clubs with sufficient commitment to try delivering the program and to recruit coaches willing to take part in training. The program also requires access to club facilities and materials for the program, and funding to pay for materials such as manuals and t-shirts (Fig. EuroFIT drew on theories derived from various schools of thought in psychology and sociology. From psychology, EuroFIT drew explicitly on contemporary theories of motivation specifically, self-determination theory [From sociological theory, EuroFIT – like FFIT—drew on accounts of gender, culture and performance. EuroFIT is responsive to masculine identities and practices [We developed bespoke technologies to support the delivery of EuroFIT. Participants were provided with a novel pocket-worn device (the ‘SitFIT’), about the size of a matchbox, to self-monitor their daily step count (for physical activity) and time spent upright (for sedentary behaviour) [For the duration of the research, the country-based research teams provided implementation support for football clubs. This included funding to deliver the program, guidance on recruiting participants, provision of detailed manuals for coaches, a two-day training program for club coaches and support for trouble shooting problems during delivery. Full details of the implementation process and support offered to clubs are already published [