TY - JOUR
T1 - A cross-sectional investigation of the importance of park features for promoting regular physical activity in parks
AU - Costigan, Sarah A.
AU - Veitch, Jenny
AU - Crawford, David
AU - Carver, Alison
AU - Timperio, Anna
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: The REVAMP project is funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LP120200396) and includes four partners: Parks Victoria, the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, Brimbank City Council and City West Water. J.V. is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council Early Career Fellowship (ID 1053426). A.T. is supported by a Future Leader Fellowship from the National Heart Foundation of Australia (ID 100046). The contents of this manuscript are the responsibility of the authors and do not reflect the views of the funding bodies. We gratefully acknowledge the schools, families, and local residents who participated in our study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2017/11
Y1 - 2017/11
N2 - Introduction: Parks in the US and Australia are generally underutilised, and park visitors typically engage in low levels of physical activity (PA). Better understanding park features that may encourage visitors to be active is important. This study examined the perceived importance of park features for encouraging park-based PA and examined differences by sex, age, parental-status and participation in PA. Methods: Cross-sectional surveys were completed by local residents (n = 2775) living near two parks (2013/2015). Demographic variables, park visitation and leisure-time PA were self-reported, respondents rated the importance of 20 park features for encouraging park-based PA in the next fortnight. Chi-square tests of independence examined differences in importance of park features for PA among sub-groups of local residents (sex, age, parental-status, PA). Results: Park features ranked most important for park-based PA were: well maintained (96.2%), feel safe (95.4%), relaxing atmosphere (91.2%), easy to get to (91.7%), and shady trees (90.3%). All subgroups ranked ‘well maintained’ as most important. Conclusions: Natural and built environment features of parks are important for promoting adults’ park-based PA, and should be considered in park (re)design.
AB - Introduction: Parks in the US and Australia are generally underutilised, and park visitors typically engage in low levels of physical activity (PA). Better understanding park features that may encourage visitors to be active is important. This study examined the perceived importance of park features for encouraging park-based PA and examined differences by sex, age, parental-status and participation in PA. Methods: Cross-sectional surveys were completed by local residents (n = 2775) living near two parks (2013/2015). Demographic variables, park visitation and leisure-time PA were self-reported, respondents rated the importance of 20 park features for encouraging park-based PA in the next fortnight. Chi-square tests of independence examined differences in importance of park features for PA among sub-groups of local residents (sex, age, parental-status, PA). Results: Park features ranked most important for park-based PA were: well maintained (96.2%), feel safe (95.4%), relaxing atmosphere (91.2%), easy to get to (91.7%), and shady trees (90.3%). All subgroups ranked ‘well maintained’ as most important. Conclusions: Natural and built environment features of parks are important for promoting adults’ park-based PA, and should be considered in park (re)design.
KW - Adults
KW - Park features
KW - Park use
KW - Physical activity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85033594215&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph14111335
DO - 10.3390/ijerph14111335
M3 - Article
C2 - 29099053
AN - SCOPUS:85033594215
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 14
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 11
M1 - 1335
ER -