Department of Kinesiology, Physical Activity and Public Health Laboratory, Kansas State University, 1A Natatorium, Manhattan, KS, 66506, USA.
Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2010 May 27;7:50. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-7-50.
Components of the built environment are associated with active living behaviors, but research in this area has employed surveys and other quantitative methods almost exclusively. Qualitative approaches can provide additional detail about how neighborhoods influence physical activity, including informing the extent to which such relationships are causal in nature. The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of residents' attitudinal and behavioral responses to living in a neighborhood designed to be walkable.
Focus groups were conducted with residents of a planned retail and residential development that was designed to embody many attributes of walkability and was located within a large city in southwestern Ontario. In total, 31 participants provided qualitative data about neighborhood resources and dynamics, use of local services, physical activity behavior, and other related issues. The data were transcribed and coded for themes relevant to the study purpose.
Salient themes that emerged emphasized the importance of land use diversity, safety, parks and trails, aesthetics, and a sense of community, with the latter theme cutting across all others. The data also revealed mechanisms that explain relationships between the built environment and behavior and how sidewalks in the neighborhood facilitated diverse health behaviors and outcomes. Finally, residents recited several examples of changes in behavior, both positive and negative, since moving to their current neighborhood.
The results of this study confirmed and expanded upon current knowledge about built and social environment influences on physical activity and health. That many residents reported changes in their behaviors since moving to the neighborhood permitted tentative inferences about the causal impact of built and social environments. Future research should exploit diverse methods to more fully understand how neighborhood contexts influence active living.
建筑环境的组成部分与积极的生活行为有关,但该领域的研究几乎仅采用调查和其他定量方法。定性方法可以提供有关邻里环境如何影响身体活动的更多详细信息,包括告知这些关系在多大程度上具有因果关系。本研究的目的是深入了解居民对可步行社区的生活的态度和行为反应。
对位于安大略省西南部一个大城市内的一个计划中的零售和住宅开发项目的居民进行了焦点小组讨论。共有 31 名参与者提供了有关邻里资源和动态、当地服务的使用、身体活动行为和其他相关问题的定性数据。这些数据被转录并编码为与研究目的相关的主题。
出现的突出主题强调了土地利用多样性、安全性、公园和步道、美学和社区意识的重要性,后一个主题贯穿所有其他主题。数据还揭示了解释建筑环境与行为之间关系的机制,以及邻里的人行道如何促进各种健康行为和结果。最后,居民们列举了自搬到当前社区以来,行为发生变化的一些例子,既有积极的也有消极的。
本研究的结果证实并扩展了关于建筑和社会环境对身体活动和健康影响的现有知识。许多居民报告说,自从搬到社区以来,他们的行为发生了变化,这使得可以试探性地推断建筑和社会环境的因果影响。未来的研究应该利用多种方法来更全面地了解邻里环境如何影响积极的生活。