American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Volume 37, Issue 6 , Pages 475-480 , December 2009

Effects of Park Improvements on Park Use and Physical Activity: Policy and Programming Implications

  • Deborah A. Cohen, MD, MPH

      Affiliations

    • RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress correspondence and reprint requests to: Deborah A. Cohen, MD, MPH, RAND Corporation, 1776 Main Street, Santa Monica CA 90407
  • ,
  • Daniela Golinelli, PhD

      Affiliations

    • RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California
  • ,
  • Stephanie Williamson, BA

      Affiliations

    • RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California
  • ,
  • Amber Sehgal, MS

      Affiliations

    • RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California
  • ,
  • Terry Marsh, MPH

      Affiliations

    • RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California
  • ,
  • Thomas L. McKenzie, PhD

      Affiliations

    • San Diego State University, San Diego, California

References 

  1. CDC. BRFSS. apps.nccd.cdc.gov/brfss/list.asp?cat=PA&yr=2005&qkey=4418&state=All.
  2. Troiano RP, Berrigan D, Dodd KW, Mâsse LC, Tilert T, McDowell M. Physical activity in the United States measured by accelerometer. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2008;40(1):181–188
  3. Romero AJ. Low-income neighborhood barriers and resources for adolescents' physical activity. J Adolesc Health. 2005;36(3):253–259
  4. Gordon-Larsen P, Nelson MC, Page P, Popkin BM. Inequality in the built environment underlies key health disparities in physical activity and obesity. Pediatrics. 2006;117(2):417–424
  5. Brown LD. People-centered development and participatory research. Harv Educ Rev. 1985;55(1):69–75
  6. McKenzie TL, Cohen DA, Sehgal A, Williamson S, Golinelli D. System for Observing Parks and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC): reliability and feasibility measures. J Phys Act Health. 2006;3(1S):S208–S222
  7. Cohen D, Setodji C, Marsh T, et al. A day in the life of a park: validation of SOPARC (System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities). San Diego CA: Active Living Research.
  8. Ridgeway G, McCaffrey DF, Morral AR. Toolkit for weighting and analysis of nonequivalent groups: a tutorial for the twang package. R vignette. Santa Monica CA: RAND; 2006;
  9. Kaczynski AT. A more tenable marketing for leisure services and studies. Leisure Sci. 2008;30(3):253–272

 The full text of this article is available via AJPM Online at www.ajpm-online.net.

PII: S0749-3797(09)00586-8

doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2009.07.017

American Journal of Preventive Medicine
Volume 37, Issue 6 , Pages 475-480 , December 2009