Hege Adam, Christiana Richard W, Battista Rebecca, Parkhurst Hannah
Department of Health and Exercise Science, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, United States.
Prev Med Rep. 2017 Nov 22;8:261-266. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2017.11.007. eCollection 2017 Dec.
People residing in rural communities are more likely to be physically inactive and subsequently have elevated risks for chronic disease. Recent evidence has shown this could stem from environmental barriers, inadequate programming and policies directed at the promotion of physical activity (PA) in rural settings. The objective of this research was to assess active living features in rural towns and townships ( = 16) across seven counties in northwestern North Carolina (NC). The study utilized the Town-Wide and Street Segment components of the Rural Active Living Assessment (RALA) as well as the 2014 American Community Survey results. The assessments were conducted in the summer of 2016 in the rural Appalachia region of NC. Using the RALA town-wide assessment scoring system (0 - 100), the range of scores was 18-84, with the mean being 50.06. Three towns had no sidewalks, nine towns had sidewalks on only one side of the main streets, and four had sidewalks on both sides of the main streets. One town was rated as highly walkable, seven towns as moderately walkable, five towns as moderately unwalkable, and three towns as highly unwalkable. The rural Appalachia region of NC offers unique topographic, geographic and environmental barriers to PA. However, our findings indicate many rural towns offer common PA amenities. Future research should utilize qualitative methods and a community-based participatory research approach to more fully understand the challenges with increasing PA in the rural and often isolated Appalachia communities.
居住在农村社区的人身体活动较少，因此患慢性病的风险更高。最近的证据表明，这可能源于环境障碍、针对农村地区促进身体活动（PA）的规划和政策不足。本研究的目的是评估北卡罗来纳州西北部（NC）七个县的16个乡镇的积极生活特征。该研究利用了农村积极生活评估（RALA）的全镇和街道段组成部分以及2014年美国社区调查结果。评估于2016年夏天在北卡罗来纳州的农村阿巴拉契亚地区进行。使用RALA全镇评估评分系统（0-100），得分范围为18-84，平均分为50.06。三个镇没有人行道，九个镇只有主街道一侧有人行道，四个镇主街道两侧都有人行道。一个镇被评为高度适宜步行，七个镇为中度适宜步行，五个镇为中度不适宜步行，三个镇为高度不适宜步行。北卡罗来纳州的农村阿巴拉契亚地区为身体活动提供了独特的地形、地理和环境障碍。然而，我们的研究结果表明，许多农村城镇提供常见的身体活动便利设施。未来的研究应该采用定性方法和基于社区的参与性研究方法，以更全面地了解在农村且往往与世隔绝的阿巴拉契亚社区增加身体活动所面临的挑战。
