Do Innovative Playgrounds Mitigate Health Disparities
Biography
Overview
Summary/Abstract? ? Today,?most?American?adults?and?children?fail?to?meet?national?physical?activity?guidelines.?Playgrounds? are?located?in?89%?of?all?neighborhood?parks,?making?them?a?rich?resource?to?support?physical?activity?in?both? children?and?adults.?However,?not?all?playgrounds?are?created?equal,?nor?are?they?all?designed?to?encourage? physical?activity?for?all?ages.?Playgrounds?in?lower?income?areas?are?used?less?and?playgrounds?with?more? features?attract?more?users?and?lead?to?more?moderate-?to-?vigorous?physical?activity.??Innovative?playgrounds? that?included?facilities?and?amenities?for?adults?appear?to?increase?the?number?of?users?as?well?as?their?levels?of? moderate-?to-?vigorous?physical?activity?(MVPA)?to?an?even?greater?extent.?In?the?past?decade,?playgrounds?in? major?American?cities?have?begun?experimenting?with?newer,?more?innovative?playground?designs;??as?yet,? these?spaces?have?not?been?rigorously?studied?to?assess?their?impact?on?the?physical?activity?of?all?ages.?Using? and?adapting?existing?methods?of?systematic?direct?observation,?we?propose?to?study?and?compare?innovative? playgrounds?to?traditional?post?and?platform?playgrounds?across?the?US?to?determine?whether?they?can?mitigate? the?multiple?park?use?disparities?seen?for?gender,?age,?and?socio-?economic?status.??In?addition,?we?will?survey? 1200?adult?caregivers?of?children?in?playground?areas?to?assess?how?playgrounds?relate?to?their?own?physical? activity?through?active?transport?to?the?playground?as?well?as?on-?site?physical?activity.?Our?specific?aims?are:?1)? To?determine?whether?innovative?playgrounds?attract?more?users?of?all?ages?as?well?as?reduce?gender? disparities?in?playground?use?and?physical?activity?levels;??2)?To?determine?whether?innovative?playgrounds? attract?a?similar?proportion?of?users?relative?to?the?local?population?density?in?low-?income?neighborhoods?as?in? high-?income?neighborhoods;???3)?To?identify?the?contribution?of?specific?playground?features,?structures,?and? surfacing?to?playground-?based?MVPA?and?active?transport?to?playgrounds?among?gender?and?age?groups,? including?children?5?and?under,?those?in?middle?childhood?(6-?12),?teens?(13-?17),?adults?(18-?59),?and?seniors? (60+);??4)?To?make?recommendations?that?support?more?MVPA?in?playgrounds?for?all?age?groups.?This?will?be? the?first?study?to?examine?the?impact?of?playground?design?on?the?duration?and?intensity?levels?of?physical? activity?among?playground?users?of?all?age?groups?and?across?socio-?demographic?communities.??Given?that? cities?are?constantly?renovating?and?creating?new?playground?areas,?the?findings?from?this?study?can?inform?the? design?of?playgrounds?being?planned?now?and?in?the?future?to?maximize?population-?level?physical?activity.?? ? ??
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