Community members' assessment of the physical activity environments in their neighborhood parks: utility of the community stakeholder park audit tool.

OBJECTIVE

This study engaged community members to describe physical activity (PA) environments in parks and to examine if the PA environment in parks was related to the economic characteristics of households near parks.

METHOD

Twenty-four Bridgeport, adult residents examined the PA environments in 21 Bridgeport, Connecticut, parks using the Community Stakeholder Park Audit Tool (CPAT) during the summer, 2013. ESRI's Geographical Information System was used to identify the economic characteristics (i.e., median household income, percentage of households below the poverty line; from 2010 Census data) of households within 0.5 miles of a park. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze CPAT data.

RESULTS

A negative association was identified between the parks' PA area and safety scores (p = .012). Positive associations were identified between the parks' PA area and amenities scores (p < .001), access and amenities scores (p = .006), and park safety concern and surrounding safety concern scores (p < .001). There were no significant associations between park environment indices and the economic characteristics of households less than 0.5 miles from parks. Community members recommended several strategies to enhance PA environments in parks.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings highlight the utility of CPAT for enabling community members identify opportunities to enhance PA environments in parks.