Journal ArticleDOI
System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC): Reliability and Feasibility Measures
TLDR
SOPARC is a reliable and feasible instrument for assessing physical activity and associated contextual data in community settings and met acceptable criteria for area contexts.Abstract:
Background: New tools are needed to examine physical activity and the contexts in which it occurs. Community parks contribute to physical activity, but measuring activity and associated variables in them is challenging because area contexts change and the numbers and characteristics of users are highly variable. Methods: We developed SOPARC (System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities) and tested its use by observing 16,244 individuals in 165 park areas. Reliabilities included 472 simultaneous measures by independent observers. Results: Correlations between observers on number of area participants was 0.99 for female and male park users. Reliabilities (i.e., percent agreement) for age (89%, females; 85%, males), race/ethnic (80%, females; 82%, males), and activity level (80%, females; 88%, males) groupings met acceptable criteria. Reliabilities for area contexts (i.e., usable, accessible, supervised, organized, equipped) exceeded 94%. Conclusions: SOPARC is a reliable and feasible instrument for assessing physical activity and associated contextual data in community settings.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Escaping to and being active in neighbourhood parks: park use in a post-disaster setting.
TL;DR: Investigating the impact of Hurricane Katrina on park use by visitors from flooded areas of New Orleans, Louisiana, compared to visitors from non-flooded areas found that community parks are a community asset that may play a role in the post-disaster recovery process by providing opportunities for escape and physical activity.
Journal ArticleDOI
Creating neighborhood recreational space for youth and children in the urban environment: Play(ing in the) Streets in San Francisco
TL;DR: In 2013, San Francisco was one of eight sites funded by Partnership for a Healthier America to implement Play Streets, a smaller-scale Open Streets-type initiative, aimed at increasing physical activity (PA) among children and youth by closing neighborhood streets for recreational activities as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
Promoting physical activity in high-poverty neighborhood parks: A cluster randomized controlled trial.
Deborah A. Cohen,Bing Han,Kathryn Pitkin Derose,Stephanie Williamson,Terry Marsh,Laura Raaen,Thomas L. McKenzie +6 more
TL;DR: Although new park programs can attract users, new programs alone may be insufficient to increase overall park use in low-income neighborhoods at times when the programs are not taking place.
Journal ArticleDOI
A longitudinal examination of improved access on park use and physical activity in a low-income and majority African American neighborhood park
TL;DR: It is shown that increasing safe access to parks primarily positively influences park use but not park-based physical activity, and while improved safe access is encouraging greater park use, there is a need for future research to examine additional factors such as social support, programming and environmental changes to engage community members in park- based physical activity.
Journal ArticleDOI
Using MapMyFitness to Place Physical Activity into Neighborhood Context
Jana A. Hirsch,Peter James,Jamaica R M Robinson,Kyler M. Eastman,Kevin Daniel Conley,Kelly R. Evenson,Francine Laden,Francine Laden +7 more
TL;DR: The utility of MapMyFitness data is illustrated using tracked physical activity by users in Winston-Salem, NC, USA between 2006 and 2013 to examine patterns of physical activity over space and time.
References
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Barbara E. Ainsworth,William L. Haskell,Melicia C. Whitt,Melinda L. Irwin,A. M. Swartz,Scott J. Strath,O'Brien Wl,David R. Bassett,Kathryn H. Schmitz,Patricia O. Emplaincourt,David R. Jacobs,Arthur S. Leon +11 more
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The continuing epidemics of obesity and diabetes in the United States.
TL;DR: The prevalence of obesity and diabetes continues to increase among US adults, and interventions are needed to improve physical activity and diet in communities nationwide.
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Environmental factors associated with adults' participation in physical activity: a review
TL;DR: Physical environment factors have consistent associations with physical activity behavior and further development of ecologic and environmental models, together with behavior-specific and context-specific measurement strategies, should help in further understanding of these associations.
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Environmental and policy interventions to promote physical activity
TL;DR: In this article, a model describing the development of policy and environmental interventions is proposed, in the hope of stimulating more research in this area, and two studies showed that placing signs encouraging stair use can be effective.
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The significance of parks to physical activity and public health: a conceptual model.
TL;DR: A conceptual model is proposed to guide thinking and suggest hypotheses about the relationships between park benefits, park use, and physical activity, and the antecedents/correlates of park use that focus on park environmental characteristics that could be related to physical activity.