Abstract
There is strong evidence indicating that the environment where people live has a marked influence on physical activity. The current understanding of this relationship is based on studies conducted in developed and culturally distinct countries and may not be applicable to the context of Brazil. In this respect, a better understanding of methods evaluating the relationship between the environment and physical activity may contribute to the development of new studies in this area in Brazil. The objective of the present study was to briefly describe the main methods used to assess the relationship between built environment and physical activity. Three main approaches are used to obtain information about the environment: 1) environmental perception; 2) systematic observation, and 3) geoprocessing. These methods are mainly applied to evaluate population density, mixed land use, physical activity facilities, street patterns, sidewalk/bike path coverage, public transportation, and safety/esthetics. In Brazil, studies investigating the relationship between the environment and physical activity are scarce, but the number of studies is growing. Thus, further studies are necessary and methods applicable to the context of Brazil need to be developed in order to increase the understanding of this subject.
Highlights
Níveis adequados de atividade física (AF) têm sido recomendados como forma de se obter benefícios para a saúde física e mental[1]
As pesquisas sobre AF empregaram modelos e teorias que abordam influências psicológicas e sociais sobre este comportamento[5,6]
O ambiente construído compreende as construções, espaços e objetos que são criados ou alterados pelo homem, porém, tais características influenciam de maneira específica cada contexto ou domínio da AF11
Summary
Resumo – Fortes evidências indicam que o ambiente onde as pessoas vivem possui grande influência na atividade física. Considerando este aspecto, a maior parte dos estudos com enfoque no ambiente construído investiga a AF no lazer ou como meio de transporte, uma vez que tais domínios são potencialmente mais suscetíveis a intervenções ambientais e de grande abrangência populacional. O Neighborhood Quality of Life Study (NQLS) nos Estados Unidos[35], o Physical Activity in Localities and Community Environments (PLACE) na Austrália[36] e o Belgian Environmental Physical Activity Study (BEPAS)[37] investigaram a associação entre AF no lazer e AF no transporte com um índice composto por atributos do ambiente (densidade residencial, uso misto do solo e conectividade das ruas). Uma vez que as pessoas se deslocam usualmente pelas ruas e calçadas para se deslocar, portanto, não obstáculos naturais ou construídos são desviados, a rede de segmentos têm sido considerada ao determinar os buffers. O primeiro considerando 500m de raio e outro considerando 500m percorrendo a rede de segmentos em torno da residência, são apresentados na figura 1
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