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American Public Health Association
133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition
December 10-14, 2005
Philadelphia, PA
APHA 2005
 
Session: Built Environment Institute II: Assessing The Urban Built Environment To Promote Physical Activity & Health
4306.0: Tuesday, December 13, 2005: 4:30 PM-6:00 PM
Oral
Built Environment Institute II: Assessing The Urban Built Environment To Promote Physical Activity & Health
In order to develop effective community-specific strategies to promote and encourage physical activity among residents, it is necessary to understand aspects of the built environment that promote or inhibit physical activity and to understand community perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors related to physical activity. Communities differ with respect to residents' attitudes and motivation regarding physical activity and the degree to which the built environment is activity-promoting; however, valid assessment tools and methods can be developed that can be widely adapted by researchers and public health practitioners. In this session, researchers will present the results of studies that assessed attitudes, behaviors, and preferences related to physical activity in an urban community; assessed the relationship between walking activity and public transit use; identified neighborhood risk factors for obesity in urban communities; and studied use patterns and physical activity in urban parks. Methods used by the researchers included focus groups, key informant surveys, user surveys, structured observation, and analysis of data from large scale, representative national and state surveys. The methods used in these investigations can be adapted in physical activity-related assessments of other communities and the results can be used to develop public policies that promote physical activity. The research findings and methods will also be valuable in generating follow-up studies of characteristics of community residents and the built environment that relate to the frequency and intensity of health-promoting physical activity.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to: 1) Identify environmental factors that were associated with increased physical activity in studies of both small and large populations. 2) Describe policy interventions that could promote physical activity in communities. 3) Articulate an approach to assessing attitudes towards and barriers to physical activity among community residents. 4) Describe the use of data from representative surveys to study activity patterns and identify risk factors for obesity.
Organizer(s):Neal L. Rosenblatt, MS
Allen Dearry, PhD
Karla Armenti, ScD, MS
Peter J. Ashley, DrPH
Moderator(s):Allen Dearry, PhD
4:30 PMAssessing the urban built environment to promote physical activity
Rickie Brawer, MPH, Nancy Brisbon, MD, James Plumb, MD, MPH
4:50 PMWalking to public transit: A step toward meeting the Surgeon General’s physical activity recommendations
Lilah M. Besser, MSPH, Andrew L. Dannenberg, MD, MPH
5:10 PMNeighborhood risk factors for obesity
Russ Lopez, MCRP, DSc
5:30 PMNeighborhood parks and active living: A descriptive study of use patterns and physical activity in neighborhood parks in Atlanta, Georgia
Karen G. Mumford, PhD, Howard Frumkin, MD, DrPH, Amy Helling, PhD, Steve French, PhD, Harold Kohl, PhD, Candace Rutt, PhD, Lance A. Waller, PhD
See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement and author's information.
Organized by:Environment
Endorsed by:Community Health Planning and Policy Development; Epidemiology; Food and Nutrition; Public Health Education and Health Promotion
CE Credits:CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing

The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA