Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Prev Med. 2013 Nov;57(5):533-40. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2013.07.005. Epub 2013 Jul 13.
The importance of the built environment for physical activity has been recognized in recent decades, resulting in new research. This study aims to understand the current structure of physical activity and built environment (PABE) research and identify gaps to address as the field continues to rapidly develop.
Key PABE articles were nominated by top scholars and a snowball sample of 2764 articles was collected in 2013 using citation network links. Article abstracts were examined to determine research focus and network analysis was used to examine the evolution of scholarship.
The network included 318 PABE articles. Of these, 191 were discovery-focused, examining the relationship between physical activity and built environment; 79 were reviews summarizing previous PABE work; 38 focused on theory and methods for studying PABE; six were delivery-focused, examining PABE interventions; and four addressed other topics.
Network composition suggested that PABE is in the discovery phase, although may be transitioning given the large number and central position of review documents that summarize existing literature. The small amount of delivery research was not well integrated into the field. PABE delivery researchers may wish to make explicit connections to the discovery literature in order to better integrate the field.
近几十年来，人们已经认识到建筑环境对身体活动的重要性，因此产生了新的研究。本研究旨在了解当前身体活动和建筑环境（PABE）研究的结构，并确定随着该领域的快速发展需要解决的差距。
由顶尖学者提名关键的 PABE 文章，并于 2013 年使用引文网络链接收集了 2764 篇文章的雪球样本。检查文章摘要以确定研究重点，并使用网络分析来检查学术研究的演变。
该网络包括 318 篇 PABE 文章。其中，191 篇是发现型的，研究了身体活动与建筑环境之间的关系；79 篇是综述性的，总结了以前的 PABE 工作；38 篇侧重于研究 PABE 的理论和方法；6 篇是关于实施的，研究了 PABE 干预措施；还有 4 篇涉及其他主题。
网络组成表明，尽管由于总结现有文献的大量评论性文献处于中心位置，PABE 可能正在进入发现阶段，但可能会发生转变。关于实施的研究数量较少，与该领域没有很好地结合。PABE 实施研究人员可能希望与发现文献建立明确的联系，以便更好地整合该领域。
