Are park availability and satisfaction with neighbourhood parks associated with physical activity and time spent outdoors?

Jenny Veitch,Alison Carver,Gavin Abbott,David Crawford,Elliott Flowers,Laura Rodwell

doi:10.1186/s12889-021-10339-1

Abstract

BackgroundThere is substantial scope for enhancing population health through increased park visits and active use of parks; however, a better understanding of factors that influence park visitation is needed. This cross-sectional study examined how parent-reported satisfaction and perceived availability of parks were associated with adults’ physical activity and children’s physical activity and time spent outdoors, and whether these associations were mediated by park visitation.MethodsSelf-reported surveys were completed by adults living within 5 km of two parks located in Melbourne, Australia. Participants reported their satisfaction with neighbourhood park quality, walking duration from home to the nearest park, and park visitation in the past 7 days. Participants with a child aged 2–15 years also answered similar questions in relation to their child. The primary outcome variable for adults was leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and for children was proxy-reported time spent outside. The secondary outcome for adults was combined transportation and LTPA and for children (5–15 years) was the number of days physical activity recommendations were met in the past 7 days.ResultsSignificant positive associations between park availability and park visitation in the past 7 days, and between park visitation and the outcome variables were observed among both adults (n = 1085, Mage = 48.9, SD 13.4) and children (n = 753, Mage = 8.8, SD = 3.7). The association between park satisfaction and park visitation was only significant among adults. Park visitation mediated associations between park availability and park satisfaction and the outcome variables among both adults and children.ConclusionsImproving park availability and users’ satisfaction with parks may increase visitation and consequently increase physical activity and time spent outdoors.

Highlights

There is substantial scope for enhancing population health through increased park visits and active use of parks; a better understanding of factors that influence park visitation is needed
Park availability which includes proximity to home or other places and accessibility have been shown to be positively associated with physical activity among both youth [7,8,9,10] and adults [1, 11,12,13], there are some inconsistencies in the literature [14,15,16,17,18,19]
More than 75% of adults lived within a 10 min walk of a park and 95% of children were within walking distance of a park from home

Summary

Introduction

There is substantial scope for enhancing population health through increased park visits and active use of parks; a better understanding of factors that influence park visitation is needed. This cross-sectional study examined how parent-reported satisfaction and perceived availability of parks were associated with adults’ physical activity and children’s physical activity and time spent outdoors, and whether these associations were mediated by park visitation. We know that people do not always visit their closest park and often travel significant distances from home to reach their preferred park [25, 26] This may be due to (dis) satisfaction with the features or quality (i.e. unattractive qualities, size, lack of amenities) of the closest park. Among adults aged 57–67 years who walked for recreation, higher park quality was related to greater weekly duration of recreational walking [29]

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