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
Use of SOPARC to assess physical activity in parks: do race/ethnicity, contextual conditions, and settings of the target area, affect reliability?
Oriol Marquet,J. Aaron Hipp,Claudia Alberico,Jing-Huei Huang,Dustin Fry,Elizabeth Mazak,Gina S. Lovasi,Myron F. Floyd +7 more
TL;DR: SOPARC training should aim to improve reliability when assessing concurrent measures such as physical activity, race/ethnicity, age, and sex, and observing crowded park areas with many active users areas may require more observation practice hours.
Understanding the social-ecological influences within school playgrounds on children's enjoyment and participation in physical activity during school lunch breaks
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest that researchers can now target children's physical activity during school lunch breaks with more confidence and suggest that multiple social-ecological levels of influence on children’s physical
Journal ArticleDOI
Physical activity and food environment assessments: implications for practice.
Amy A. Eyler,Heidi M. Blanck,Joel Gittelsohn,Allison Karpyn,Thomas L. McKenzie,Susan Partington,Sandy J. Slater,Meghan Winters +7 more
TL;DR: There is growing interest in the use of physical activity and nutrition environmental measures by both researchers and practitioners and a need for improved collaboration between research and practice in forming partnerships for developing tools, collecting and analyzing data, and using the results to work toward positive environmental changes.
Journal ArticleDOI
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in behavior mapping: A case study of neighborhood parks
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that UAV-based behavior maps can provide both quantitative and qualitative data and enables qualitative, design-focused explorations such as different people-place interaction patterns by user attributes and time.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Association of Natural Elements and Trail Use by Adults
TL;DR: Investigation of the association between variations in natural elements and adults' use of a rail-trail in South Carolina found adults were most often observed using the trail during the summer, sunny weather, and moderate temperatures, and natural elements should be considered.
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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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.
Journal ArticleDOI
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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.
Journal ArticleDOI
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.
Journal ArticleDOI
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.