Priority of Activity-Friendly Community Issues Among Key Decision Makers in Hawaii

Background:The U.S. Community Guide to Preventive Services strongly recommends changes in urban design, land use and accessibility to increase physical activity. To achieve these goals, policy change is often needed. This study assessed attitudes of decision makers in Hawaii to determine if physical activity related issues are among their priorities.Methods:State and county officials (n = 179) were mailed surveys. Respondents listed the three most important problems (open-ended) in Hawaii and rated the importance of 23 specified problems, of which six directly related to physical activity.Results:The survey was completed by 126 (70.4%) respondents. The most frequently mentioned categories for the open-ended questions were affordable housing, environment/sustainability, sprawl/traffic/population growth, and healthcare. Among the closed-ended physical activity related items, increasing traffic was ranked highest (43.9%) and fourth overall. Less than 12% of decision makers rated other physical activity issues as important.Conclusions:Future work is needed to increase the visibility and importance of physical activity related issues among policymakers.

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Building a 'dementia-friendly' neighbourhood: an examination of the economic costs of implementing 'dementia-friendly' urban design and land use strategies in Whitby, Ontario

10.32920/ryerson.14668185 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Samantha Biglieri

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Land Use ◽

Social Interaction ◽

Urban Design ◽

Psychological Wellbeing ◽

Base Case ◽

Economic Costs ◽

Financial Return ◽

Moderate Dementia ◽

Pro Forma

Cases of dementia in Ontario will grow from 181,000 to 46,000 by 2036. This accelerating crisis has sparked research on how to design neighbourhoods for those persons with mild to moderate dementia, and how to empower them through built environment changes to remain in their community for as long as possible. There are numerous benefits for persons with dementia who continue access to their neighbourhood including: physical activity, sense of dignity, social interaction, autonomy, and psychological wellbeing. This MRP examines 17 Recommendations (urban design and land use strategies) identified as 'dementia-friendly', within dementia design and planning literature. Each is then examined against the planning frameworks for Whitby, Ontario, and assessed for its economic impact on a base case subdivision using pro forma analysis. The effect on the financial return for a developer was minimal, demonstrating that establishing these recommendations as policy is viable, through regulation and incentives.

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The Effectiveness of Urban Design and Land Use and Transport Policies and Practices to Increase Physical Activity: A Systematic Review

Journal of Physical Activity and Health ◽

10.1123/jpah.3.s1.s55 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 3 (s1) ◽

pp. S55-S76 ◽

Cited By ~ 394

Author(s):

Gregory W. Heath ◽

Ross C. Brownson ◽

Judy Kruger ◽

Rebecca Miles ◽

Kenneth E. Powell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Land Use ◽

Urban Design ◽

Task Force ◽

Physical Activity Behavior ◽

Transportation Policy ◽

Additional Information ◽

Land Use Policies ◽

Barriers To Implementation ◽

Policies And Practices

Background:Although a number of environmental and policy interventions to promote physical activity are being widely used, there is sparse systematic information on the most effective approaches to guide population-wide interventions.Methods:We reviewed studies that addressed the following environmental and policy strategies to promote physical activity: community-scale urban design and land use policies and practices to increase physical activity; street-scale urban design and land use policies to increase physical activity; and transportation and travel policies and practices. These systematic reviews were based on the methods of the independent Task Force on Community Preventive Services. Exposure variables were classified according to the types of infrastructures/policies present in each study. Measures of physical activity behavior were used to assess effectiveness.Results:Two interventions were effective in promoting physical activity (community-scale and street-scale urban design and land use policies and practices). Additional information about applicability, other effects, and barriers to implementation are provided for these interventions. Evidence is insufficient to assess transportation policy and practices to promote physical activity.Conclusions:Because community- and street-scale urban design and land-use policies and practices met the Community Guide criteria for being effective physical activity interventions, implementing these policies and practices at the community-level should be a priority of public health practitioners and community decision makers.

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Erratum

Journal of Physical Activity and Health ◽

10.1123/jpah.3.2.256 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 256

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Systematic Review ◽

Land Use ◽

Urban Design ◽

Policies And Practices

In the article “The Effectiveness of Urban Design and Land Use and Transport Policies and Practices to Increase Physical Activity: A Systematic Review” which appeared in Vol. 3, Supplement 1, of the Journal, Figure 4 was omitted from page S63:

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Building a 'dementia-friendly' neighbourhood: an examination of the economic costs of implementing 'dementia-friendly' urban design and land use strategies in Whitby, Ontario

10.32920/ryerson.14668185.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Samantha Biglieri

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Land Use ◽

Social Interaction ◽

Urban Design ◽

Psychological Wellbeing ◽

Base Case ◽

Economic Costs ◽

Financial Return ◽

Moderate Dementia ◽

Pro Forma

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Agroforestry Land-use Economic Yield and Risk (ALLEY) Model 2.0: a computer suite to simulate and compare stochastic yield and returns of alley crop, monocrop, and pine plantation systems in the U.S. South.

10.2737/srs-gtr-235 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Gregory E. Frey ◽

Michael A. Cary ◽

Barry K. Goodwin ◽

D. Evan. Mercer

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Pine Plantation ◽

Stochastic Yield ◽

The U.S

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Massachusetts's Chapter 40R: A Model for Incentive-Based Land Use Planning and Affordable Housing Development

Vermont Journal of Environmental Law ◽

10.2307/vermjenvilaw.10.1.181 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 181 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Karla L. Chaffee

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Affordable Housing ◽

Land Use Planning ◽

Housing Development

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Screening and managing obesity: understanding paediatric residents’ knowledge, attitudes and practice

Postgraduate Medical Journal ◽

10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-139318 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. postgradmedj-2020-139318

Author(s):

Vickie Wu ◽

Carolyn Rosen ◽

Stephanie Pan ◽

Leora Mogilner

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Retrospective Chart Review ◽

Educational Interventions ◽

Portion Size ◽

Resident Physicians ◽

Diet History ◽

Future Work ◽

Attending Physicians ◽

Knowledge Attitude And Practice ◽

Overweight Or Obesity

Study purposePrior studies have identified paediatric attending physicians’ screening and management patterns related to overweight/obesity, but less is known about resident physicians’ behaviour. The objective was to understand paediatric resident physicians’ knowledge, attitude and practice patterns of overweight/obesity screening and management.Study designWe performed a retrospective chart review of preventive visits conducted by residents between August and October 2019. Charts of patients 2–18 years with body mass index ≥85th percentile at the visit were reviewed (85th–<95th for age and sex defined as overweight, ≥95th defined as obese). A survey was distributed to residents assessing knowledge, attitudes and barriers towards obesity management.ResultsOf 1250 visits reviewed, 405 (32%) patients met the criteria for overweight or obesity. 39% were identified correctly by the provider, 53% were not identified and 8% were identified incorrectly. 89% of patients had diet history, 31% had physical activity and 43% had family history documented. Patients with obesity received physical activity documentation/counselling, portion size counselling, at least one referral, laboratory tests and a diagnosis more often than overweight patients. 84% of residents completed the survey. Although the majority of residents felt ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ well prepared to counsel families about overweight/obesity, the majority thought their counselling on overweight/obesity was ‘not at all’ or ‘slightly’ effective.ConclusionDespite residents feeling prepared and comfortable discussing overweight/obesity with patients, these diagnoses were often under-recognised or incorrectly made and appropriate counselling was lacking. Future work will focus on specific strategies to improve diagnosis, screening and management of overweight/obesity and include educational interventions and electronic medical record adaptations.

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Walkable Urban Design Attributes and Japanese Older Adults’ Body Mass Index: Mediation Effects of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior

American Journal of Health Promotion ◽

10.1177/0890117118814385 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 33 (5) ◽

pp. 764-767 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Mohammad Javad Koohsari ◽

Andrew T. Kaczynski ◽

Tomoki Nakaya ◽

Ai Shibata ◽

Kaori Ishii ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Older Adults ◽

Body Mass Index ◽

Population Density ◽

Sedentary Behavior ◽

Urban Design ◽

Mediation Effects ◽

Design Attributes ◽

Walk Score ◽

Japanese Older Adults

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to examine associations between objectively measured walkable urban design attributes with Japanese older adults’ body mass index (BMI) and to test whether objectively assessed physical activity and sedentary behavior mediated such associations. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Matsudo City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Participants: Participants were 297 older residents (aged 65-84 years) randomly selected from the registry of residential addresses. Measures: Walkable urban design attributes, including population density, availability of physical activity facilities, intersection density, and access to public transportation stations, were calculated using geographic information systems. Physical activity, sedentary behavior, and BMI were measured objectively. Analysis: The relationships of walkable urban design attributes, Walk Score®, and BMI were examined by multiple linear regression with adjustment for covariates in all models. Mediation effects of the physical activity and sedentary behavior variables in these relationships were tested using a product-of-coefficients test. Results: Higher population density and Walk Score® were associated with lower BMI. Light and moderate-to-vigorous physical activities partially mediated the relationships between these walkable urban design attributes and BMI. Conclusions: Developing active-friendly environmental policies to (re)design neighborhoods may not only promote active transport behaviors but also help in improving residents’ health status in non-Western contexts.

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