Environmental perceptions as mediators of the relationship between the objective built environment and walking among socio-economically disadvantaged women

International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

Kylie Ball¹  Lukar Thornton¹  Ilse De Bourdeaudhuij²  Jenny Veitch¹  Delfien Van Dyck² 

[1] Centre for Physical Activity and Nutrition Research, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125, Australia;Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, Watersportlaan 2, 90000 Ghent, Belgium

关键词: Physical environment;    GIS;    Adults;    Physical activity;   

Others  :  806425
DOI  :  10.1186/1479-5868-10-108

 received in 2013-03-04, accepted in 2013-09-11,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

Women living in socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods are at increased risk for physical inactivity and associated health outcomes and are difficult to reach through personally tailored interventions. Targeting the built environment may be an effective strategy in this population subgroup. The aim of this study was to examine the mediating role of environmental perceptions in the relationship between the objective environment and walking for transportation/recreation among women from socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

Methods

Baseline data of the Resilience for Eating and Activity Despite Inequality (READI) study were used. In total, 4139 women (18–46 years) completed a postal survey assessing physical environmental perceptions (aesthetics, neighbourhood physical activity environment, personal safety, neighbourhood social cohesion), physical activity, and socio-demographics. Objectively-assessed data on street connectivity and density of destinations were collected using a Geographic Information System database and based on the objective z-scores, an objective destinations/connectivity score was calculated. This index was positively scored, with higher scores representing a more favourable environment. Two-level mixed models regression analyses were conducted and the MacKinnon product-of-coefficients test was used to examine the mediating effects.

Results

The destinations/connectivity score was positively associated with transport-related walking. The perceived physical activity environment mediated 6.1% of this positive association. The destinations/connectivity score was negatively associated with leisure-time walking. Negative perceptions of aesthetics, personal safety and social cohesion of the neighbourhood jointly mediated 24.1% of this negative association.

Conclusion

For women living in socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods, environmental perceptions were important mediators of the relationship between the objective built environment and walking. To increase both transport-related and leisure-time walking, it is necessary to improve both objective walkability-related characteristics (street connectivity and proximity of destinations), and perceptions of personal safety, favourable aesthetics and neighbourhood social cohesion.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Van Dyck et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]Garber CE, Blissmer B, Deschenes MR, Franklin BA, Lamonte MJ, Lee IM, for the American College of Sports Medicine, et al.: Quantity and quality of exercise for developing and maintaining cardiorespiratory, musculoskeletal, and neuromotor fitness in apparently healthy adults: guidance for prescribing exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2011, 43:1334-1359.
• [2]Sallis JF, Cervero R, Ascher WW, Henderson K, Kraft MK, Kerr J: An ecological approach to creating active living communities. Ann Rev Publ Health 2006, 27:14.1-14.26.
• [3]Sallis JF, Owen N, Fisher EB: Ecological models of health behavior. In Health behavior and health education: theory, research and practice. Edited by Glanz K, Rimer BK, Viswanath K. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 2008:465-486.
• [4]Saelens BE, Handy SL: Built environment correlates of walking: a review. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2008, 40:S550-S566.
• [5]Van Holle V, Deforche B, Van Cauwenberg J, Goubert L, Maes L, Van de Weghe N, De Bourdeaudhuij I: Relationship between the physical environment and different domains of physical activity in European adults: a systematic review. BMC Public Health 2012, 12:807. BioMed Central Full Text
• [6]Owen N, Humpel N, Leslie E, Bauman A, Sallis JF: Understanding environmental influences on walking: review and research agenda. Am J Prev Med 2004, 27:47-76.
• [7]Bauman AE, Reis RS, Sallis JF, Wells JC, Loos RJF, Martin BW, for the Lancet Physical Activity Series Working Group: Correlates of physical activity: why are some people physically active and others not? Lancet 2012, 380:258-271.
• [8]Van Dyck D, Cerin E, Conway T, De Bourdeaudhuij I, Owen N, Kerr J, Cardon G, Frank LD, Saelens BE, Sallis JF: Perceived neighborhood environmental attributes associated with adults’ recreational physical activity: findings from the USA, Australia and Belgium. Health Place 2013, 19:59-68.
• [9]Gebel K, Bauman AE, Petticrew M: The physical environment and physical activity: a critical appraisal of review articles. Am J Prev Med 2007, 32:361-369.
• [10]Ball K, Brown W, Crawford D: Who does not gain weight? Prevalence and predictors of weight maintenance in young women. Int J Obes 2002, 26:1570-1578.
• [11]King T, Kavanagh AM, Jolley D, Turrell G, Crawford D: Weight and place: a multilevel cross-sectional survey of area-level social disadvantage and overweight/obesity in Australia. Int J Obes 2006, 30:281-287.
• [12]Cleland V, Granados A, Crawford D, Winzenberg T, Ball K: Effectiveness of interventions to promote physical activity among socio-economically disadvantaged women: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Obes Revin press doi:10.1111/j.1467-789X.2012.01058
• [13]Evenson KR, Aytur SA, Borodulin K: Physical activity beliefs, barriers, and enablers among postpartum women. J Womens Health (Larchmt) 2009, 12:1925-1934.
• [14]Ball K, Jeffery RW, Crawford DA, Roberts RJ, Salmon J, Timperio AF: Mismatch between perceived and objective measures of physical activity environments. Prev Med 2008, 47:294-298.
• [15]McGinn AP, Evenson KR, Herrin AH, Huston SL, Rodriguez DA: Exploring associations between physical activity and perceived and objective measures of the built environment. J Urb Health 2007, 84:162-184.
• [16]Dewulf B, Neutens T, Van Dyck D, De Bourdeaudhuij I, Van de Weghe N: Correspondence between objective and perceived walking times to urban destinations: influence of physical activity, neighbourhood walkability, and socio-demographics. Int J Health Geogr 2012, 11:43. BioMed Central Full Text
• [17]Van Dyck D, Cardon G, Deforche B, De Bourdeaudhuij I: Do adults like living in high-walkable neighborhoods? Associations of walkability parameters with neighbourhood satisfaction and possible mediators. Health Place 2011, 17:971-977.
• [18]Kremers SPJ, de Bruijn G, Visscher TLS, van Mechelen W, de Vries NK, Brug J: Environmental influences on energy balance-related behaviors: a dual-process view. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2006, 3:9. BioMed Central Full Text
• [19]McCormack GR, Friedenreich C, Sandalack BA, Giles-Corti B, Doyle-Baker PK, Shiell A: The relationship between cluster-analysis derived walkability and local recreational and transportation walking among Canadian adults. Health Place 2012, 18:1079-1087.
• [20]Manson JE, Hu FB, Rich-Edwards JW, Colditz GA, Stampfer MJ, Wilet WC, Speizer FE, Hennekens CH: A prospective study of walking as compared with vigorous exercise in the prevention of coronary heart disease in women. N Engl J Med 1999, 341:650-658.
• [21]Ball K, Cleland V, Salmon J, Timperio AF, McNaughton S, Thornton L, Campbell K, Jackson M, Baur LA, Mishra G, Brug J, Jeffery RW, King A, Kawachi I, Crawford DA: Cohort profile: the Resilience for Eating and Activity Despite Inequality (READI) study. Int J Epidemiolin press
• [22]Australian Bureau of Statistics: Census of Population and Housing: Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA). Canberra (AUST): ABS; 2003.
• [23]Dillman DA: Mail and telephone surveys: the total design method. New York: Wiley; 1978.
• [24]Thornton LE, Pearce JR, Kavanagh AM: Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to assess the role of the built environment in influencing obesity: a glossary. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2011, 8:71. BioMed Central Full Text
• [25]Grasser G, Van Dyck D, Titze S, Stronegger W: Objectively measured walkability and active transport and weight-related outcomes in adults: a systematic review. Int J Public Healthin press doi:10.1007/s00038-012-0435-0
• [26]Mujahid MS, Diez Roux AV, Morenoff JD, Raghunathan T: Assessing the measurement properties of neighborhood scales: from psychometrics to ecometrics. Am J Epidemiol 2007, 165:858-867.
• [27]Sampson RJ, Raudenbush SW, Earls F: Neighborhoods and violent crime: a multilevel study of collective efficacy. Sci 1997, 277:918-924.
• [28]Craig CL, Marshall AL, Sjöström M, Bauman AE, Booth ML, Ainsworth BE, et al.: International physical activity questionnaire: 12-country reliability and validity. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2003, 35:1381-1395.
• [29]Trost SG, Owen N, Bauman AE, Sallis JF, Brown W: Correlates of adults’ participation in physical activity: review and update. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2002, 34:1996-2001.
• [30]MacKinnon DP, Lockwood CM, Hoffman JM, West SG, Sheets V: A comparison of methods to test mediation and other intervening variable effects. Psychol Methods 2002, 7:83-104.
• [31]MacKinnon DP, Fairchild AJ, Fritz MS: Mediation analysis. Ann Rev Psychol 2007, 58:593-614.
• [32]Parra DC, Hoehner CM, Hallal PC, Ribeiro IC, Reis R, Brownson RC, Pratt M, Simoes EJ: Perceived environmental correlates of physical activity for leisure and transportation in Curitiba, Brazil. Prev Med 2011, 52:234-238.
• [33]Van Dyck D, Cardon G, Deforche B, Giles-Corti B, Sallis JF, Owen N, De Bourdeaudhuij I: Environmental and psychosocial correlates of accelerometer-assessed and self-reported physical activity in Belgian adults. Int J Behav Med 2011, 18:235-245.
• [34]De Bourdeaudhuij I, Teixeira PJ, Cardon G, Deforche B: Environmental and psychosocial correlates of physical activity in Portuguese and Belgian adults. Publ Health Nutr 2005, 8:886-895.
• [35]Saelens BE, Sallis JF, Frank LD: Environmental correlates of walking and cycling: findings from transportation, urban design, and planning literatures. Ann Behav Med 2003, 25:80-91.
• [36]Wendel-Vos W, Droomers M, Kremers S, Brug J, van Lenthe F: Potential environmental determinants of physical activity in adults: a systematic review. Obes Rev 2007, 8:425-440.
• [37]Modie-Moroka T: Does level of social capital predict perceived health in a community? A study of adult residents of low-income areas of Francistown, Botswana. J Health Popul Nutr 2009, 27:462-476.
• [38]Wen M, Fan J, Jin L, Wang G: Neighborhood effects on health among migrants and natives in Shanghai, China. Health Place 2010, 16:452-460.
• [39]Almedom AM: Social capital and mental health: an interdisciplinary review of primary evidence. Soc Sci Med 2005, 61:943-964.