Robin Moore

Park-Based Physical Activity Among Children and Adolescents

BACKGROUND Availability of parks is associated with higher levels of physical activity among children and adolescents. Few studies examine actual park use and park-based physical activity in these populations. PURPOSE This study examined associations among individual, park, and neighborhood environmental characteristics and childrens and adolescents park-based physical activity. METHODS Data were collected in 2007 on 2712 children in 20 randomly selected parks in Durham NC. The System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC) provided measures of physical activity. Hierarchic regression analysis assessed associations among individual, park, and neighborhood environmental characteristics and childrens park-based physical activity. Data were analyzed in 2010. RESULTS Of the 2712 children observed, 34.2% and 13.2% were engaged in walking or vigorous physical activity. Environmental features of parks were associated with activity levels whereas neighborhood characteristics were not. Physical activity was negatively associated with gender (girls) (p=0.003); presence of a parent (p<0.0001); presence of nonparental adult (p=0.006); and an interaction involving the 0-5 years age group and style of play (p=0.017). Higher level of physical activity was associated with presence of other active children (p<0.0001); courts (e.g., basketball); and an interaction between number of recreation facilities and formal activities (p=0.004). CONCLUSIONS These social factors and design features should be considered in order to stimulate higher levels of park-based physical activity among children and adolescents.

Behavior mapping: a method for linking preschool physical activity and outdoor design.

UNLABELLED The preschool that children attend has been shown to be a significant but variable predictor of physical activity of 3- to 5-yr-olds, whereas the time outdoors has been found to be a strong correlate of physical activity. Researchers speculate that variations in preschool physical activity may be attributed to variations in preschool policies and practices, including the form and content of outdoor physical environments. However, assessment methods linking them to physical activity are limited. Improved understanding of links between environment and activity could be used to influence childcare policy, which is highly regulated, usually at state level, to create outdoor environments more conducive to childrens informal play and physical activity. The purpose of this article was to introduce behavior mapping as a direct observation method on the basis of the theories of behavior setting and affordance and to demonstrate its sensitivity to gathering physical activity and associated environmental data at a sufficiently detailed level to affect built environment design policy. METHODS Behavior mapping data, including outdoor environmental characteristics and childrens physical activity levels, were obtained in two preschool centers at the Research Triangle region, NC. RESULTS Physical activity levels at the two centers varied across different types of behavior settings, including pathways, play structures, and open areas. The same type of setting with different attributes, such as circular versus straight pathways, and open areas with different ground surfaces, such as asphalt, compacted soil, woodchips, and sand, attracted different levels of physical activity. CONCLUSIONS Behavior mapping provides a promising method for objectively measuring relationships between physical behavior settings and directly associated activity levels.

Park Use Among Youth and Adults: Examination of Individual, Social, and Urban Form Factors

This article examines park use in relation to neighborhood social (safety and poverty) and urban form (pedestrian infrastructure and street network pattern) characteristics among youth and adult subpopulations defined by age and gender. We utilized System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC) and Geographic Information Systems to objectively measure park use and park and neighborhood characteristics in 20 neighborhood parks. Heterogeneous negative binomial regression models indicated that the relationship between park use and types of activity settings, and park use and neighborhood attributes vary by age and gender. In general, the study found that park and activity setting size; activity settings such as playgrounds, basketball courts, pool and water features, shelters, and picnic areas; and availability of sidewalks and intersections in the park’s neighborhood were positively associated with park use, whereas crime, poverty, and racial heterogeneity of the surrounding neighborhood were negatively associated with park use.

Supporting Health through Design: Challenges and Opportunities

This special issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion on ‘‘Health Promoting Community Design’’ highlights the most recent research into how the built environment affects health. This emerging research provides another chapter in the rich history of public health and its quest to overcome obstacles to health through shaping the environment in which people live. The role of public health in community design has traditionally been to improve sanitation and personal hygiene. Now attention is shifting to how design affects other important elements of health, especially physical activity. The 13 articles in this special issue provide a fundamental overview of the relationship between community design and health and what needs to be done to promote physical activity and improve health through affecting social circumstances and environmental conditions.

Childcare Outdoor Renovation as a Built Environment Health Promotion Strategy: Evaluating the Preventing Obesity by Design Intervention

Purpose. To evaluate the effectiveness of Preventing Obesity by Design (POD), a childcare center outdoor renovation intervention. Design. Pre-post intervention evaluation. Setting. North Carolina licensed childcare centers (N = 27). Subjects. Preschool children. Intervention. Outdoor renovation, teacher training. Measures. Behavior mapping, Preschool Outdoor Environment Measurement Scale (POEMS), center director interview. Analysis. Descriptive statistics, ordinary least squares and logistic regressions calculated to assess levels of association between environmental change, childrens physical activity (PA), social behaviors, and environmental quality. Qualitative interview data analyzed to help understand intervention impact. Results. Behavior mapping showed that site layout attributes, such as the form (i.e., “single loop” and “double loop”) of pathways (functioning as circulation routes and wheeled toy settings), are associated with higher levels of PA. Teacher interaction was associated with decreased childrens PA. Absence of teacher or lack of child/child interaction was associated with increased PA. POEMS assessment of environmental quality was higher after renovation. POEMS domains (Physical Space and Teacher/Caregiver Roles) were positively associated with PA. After renovation, 68% of center directors reported positive changes in childrens behavior and 40% mentioned edible plant installations as greatest success. Conclusion. Built environment renovation of childcare center outdoors, including looped pathways installation, coupled with teacher training, may support increased PA. Renovation, including food gardens, may be a key to success for preschool health promotion and support change in childcare policy.

Playgrounds at the Crossroads

Public playgrounds in the United States have entered a crisis stage in their evolution. They have been criticized as adults’ attempts to control children’s behavior (Wood 1977), damned as irrelevant to children’s developmental needs (Frost & Klein, 1983), and described by children as boring, hurtful, and anti social (Moore, 1989a). More often than not, these supposed spaces for healthy child development contain vast expanses of hot, hard asphalt, poorly maintained old metal equipment—oftentimes installed without adequate safety surfaces—water features that have not worked for years, pokey sandboxes without sand, and vegetation—if it exists at all—installed as an esthetic buffer rather than as a play setting (Bruya & Langendorfer, in press). And yet these spaces where children spend so much of their time could very well support educational principles and stimulate child development (Schools Council, 1974b; Sebba & Churchman, 1986).

Child-Friendly, Active, Healthy Neighborhoods Physical Characteristics and Children’s Time Outdoors

Relationships between neighborhood built environment characteristics and children’s average time outdoors on weekdays were investigated in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A total of 22 built environment variables, 8 socio-demographic variables, and 1 perceptual variable were tested for their relationship to children’s (N = 109) self-reported average time outdoors on weekdays, measured in minutes. Built environment variables were measured using Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based urban form variables and systematic, direct observation. Analysis was conducted using multiple linear regression. Results (p < .01) suggest that additional minutes of children’s average time outdoors on weekdays are associated with availability of adjacent space (23 min), male child (23 min), dead-end instead of through street in front of residence (15 min), perception of neighborhood safety by parents (10 min), one story lower in level of residence floor (3 min), and 1,000 m2 less of total building footprint area within the neighborhood (1 min).

Increasing Physical Activity in Childcare Outdoor Learning Environments: The Effect of Setting Adjacency Relative to Other Built Environment and Social Factors

The problem of childhood obesity can be addressed through study of how built environment characteristics can foster physical activity (PA) among preschool children. A sample of 355 behavior settings in 30 childcare center outdoor learning environments (OLEs) was studied using behavioral mapping techniques. Observers coded activity levels of preschool children across behavior settings. The level of PA observed in 6,083 behavioral displays of children aged 3 to 5 was modeled using multi-level statistical techniques. Both adjacency and centrality of play settings were found to be important factors in increasing the degree of PA, net the effect of numerous other variables. In addition, child-to-child interaction was found to foster PA (more for boys than girls) whereas a teacher’s custodial actions limit PA. Results demonstrate that design of OLE form (particularly adjacency of behavior settings) and content (use of manipulable items such as wheeled toys and balls) facilitates higher levels of PA.

Public involvement in transit planning: a case study of Pierce Transit, Tacoma, Washington, USA

Abstract As consultants to Pierce Transit, the authors were responsible for conducting an assessment of the newly-established, county-wide ‘timed transfer’ bus system. Guided by a strong public involvement programme, the system had been planned to replace outdated Tacoma Transit with its single transfer point, downtown Tacoma. The timed transfer system responded to the need for people to travel between suburban locations throughout the county. The new system was partly established experimentally with several temporary transfer centres in place. A system assessment needed to assure the Board of Commissioners that the new system was working well before they took the political risk of investing in permanent facilities. Instruments were developed to survey opinions of the four major groups using, operating and managing the system: riders, drivers, staff and board members. The strong positive response (along with other important critical feedback) supported the board in moving ahead with the development of permanent facilities. The Pierce Transit case study illustrates several key dimensions of a general model of public involvement and interactive decision-making relevant to the planning of large scale public service and investment systems as a prelude to detailed design programming.