Community Parks: Usage, Barriers, and Activities

Abstract

PURPOSE: The Guide to Community Preventive Services recommends creating or improving access to places (e.g. parks) for physical activity combined with informational outreach to increase physical activity. The objective of this study was to examine differences in community park usage, environmental barriers to park usage, and activity in a park by different demographic characteristics. METHODS: Cross-sectional analysis of data from adults aged 18 years or older (n=5157) who participated in the 2006 HealthStyles survey, a mail panel designed to be nationally representative. RESULTS: No significant differences by demographics were observed in reporting absence of a community park as a barrier to park usage (12.2%, 95% CI: 11.1, 13.4). Among respondents with a community park, reporting a personal safety concern (14.3%, 95% CI: 13.0, 15.7) or inadequate or poorly maintained facilities (14.5%, 95% CI: 13.2, 16.0) as a barrier was lower among whites than Hispanics and blacks. The prevalence of reporting each barrier decreased as education and income lev0el increased. For persons with a community park, 82.8% (95% CI: 81.4, 84.1) reported using a park in the past year. No difference in the odds of park use was observed for different race/ethnic groups; however those with a high school degree or less (versus college graduate) and a household income less than 15k (versus 60k+) had lower odds of park use. The majority of park users (67.1%, 95% CI: 65.1, 69.0) reported being active in a park in the past year. Among users, odds of an active visit was significantly lower in blacks than whites (OR=0.64, 95% CI: 0.47, 0.88), while the odds of an active visit did not significantly differ between Hispanics and whites. The odds of an active visit decreased both as education and income level decreased. CONCLUSION: Parks are an important community resource where users participate in physical activity. Parks appear to be an especially important community resource for blacks and Hispanics, since they use parks at the same level as whites, despite facing more barriers to use. Blacks and Hispanics differed in active park use although the prevalence of barriers was similar in the two groups. Further research is needed to explore how barriers relate to park use and park activity and reasons why these relationships may differ by race/ethnicity.