Abstract
To reduce the burden of chronic disease, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded the Orange County Partnerships to Improve Health (OC-PICH) project in Orange County, California. One of the strategies included adding outdoor exercise equipment (OEE) in two parks in Garden Grove and Anaheim. Using a quasi-experimental pre-post design, we evaluated park users’ physical activity levels before and after OEE installation using the System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC). The OEE was installed along a walking path in Edison Park (Anaheim) and grouped within a single area (a “fitness zone”) in Garden Grove Park. In both parks, there were significantly greater odds of high-intensity physical activity overall after the installation—19% higher odds in Anaheim, and 23% higher odds in Garden Grove. However, the fitness zone area in Garden Grove had substantially higher odds of increased physical activity post-intervention (OR = 5.29, CI: 3.76–7.44, p < 0.001). While the increases in physical activity levels are consistent with past studies that link OEE to higher levels of physical activity among park users, our findings also suggest that the location and placement of equipment within a park may be an important factor to consider when improving park amenities for physical activity.
Highlights
The relationship between the built environment and physical activity is well-documented [1,2,3].As a feature of the built environment, parks play an important role in activating communities [3,4]
Our study aimed to evaluate whether outdoor exercise equipment (OEE) would increase physical activity levels of park users
Both of the California parks included in this study saw increased physical activity levels among park users after installing the new OEE
Summary
The relationship between the built environment and physical activity is well-documented [1,2,3].As a feature of the built environment, parks play an important role in activating communities [3,4]. The relationship between the built environment and physical activity is well-documented [1,2,3]. Regular park programming and community outreach are correlated with an increased likelihood of park users engaging in physical activity [9,10]. Adding outdoor exercise equipment (OEE) has gained popularity as an inexpensive strategy for improving park amenities to increase the physical activity of park users [6,11,12]. While research shows that slightly more studies found increased physical activity levels with OEE in parks, the evidence base still has gaps that need investigation [11,13]. No studies have compared physical activity levels between parks with equipment placed along a walking path and parks with consolidated equipment placement in “fitness zones”. Our study in Orange County aims to bridge this gap
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