MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, Berkeley Square, 99 Berkeley Street, G3 7HR, Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, Berkeley Square, 99 Berkeley Street, G3 7HR, Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
Health Place. 2021 Nov;72:102688. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2021.102688. Epub 2021 Oct 7.
Insufficient physical activity (PA) among most children and adolescents is a global problem that is undermining the realisation of numerous developmental and health benefits. The aim of this study was to explore the potential impact of interventions on PA by using an agent-based model (ABM) simulating children's daily activities in an urban environment. Three domains for interventions were explored: outdoor play, school physical education and active travel. Simulated interventions increased children's average daily moderate-to-vigorous PA by 2-13 min and reduced the percentage of children not meeting PA guidelines, from 34% to 10%-29%, depending on the intervention. Promotion of active travel and outdoor play benefited more those in a higher socio-economic position. Agents' interactions suggested that: encouraging activity in diverse groups will reduce percentage of the least active in the population; and initiating outdoor events in neighbourhoods can generate an enhancing effect on children's engagement in PA. The ABM provided measurable outcomes for interventions that are difficult to estimate using reductionist methods. We suggest that ABMs should be used more commonly to explore the complexity of the social-environmental PA system.
大多数儿童和青少年的身体活动不足是一个全球性问题，正在破坏许多发展和健康益处的实现。本研究旨在通过使用基于代理的模型 (ABM) 模拟儿童在城市环境中的日常活动，探索干预措施对身体活动的潜在影响。探讨了三个干预领域：户外游戏、学校体育和积极出行。模拟干预措施使儿童的平均日常中等到剧烈身体活动增加了 2-13 分钟，并将不符合身体活动指南的儿童比例从 34%降低到 10%-29%，具体取决于干预措施。促进积极出行和户外活动使社会经济地位较高的儿童受益更多。代理的相互作用表明：鼓励不同群体的活动将减少人群中最不活跃的比例；在社区中开展户外活动可以对儿童参与身体活动产生增强效应。ABM 为干预措施提供了可衡量的结果，而这些结果很难使用简化方法来估计。我们建议更频繁地使用 ABM 来探索社会环境身体活动系统的复杂性。
