Can universal design support outdoor play, social participation, and inclusion in public playgrounds? A scoping review

Moore, Alice; Lynch, Helen; Boyle, Bryan

doi:10.1080/09638288.2020.1858353

Cited by 26 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 86 publications

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“…This may of course deter families from wanting or even being able to visit the playground in the first place. Findings from this paper and others (20,28,57) indicate that the environmental design of entry points and surfacing and paths warrant as much care and attention as the playground itself. Barrier-free entry points are necessary to ensure easy access to the playground, particularly for children with mobility-related impairments [e.g., (13,25,40)].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

A Scoping Review of Evidence-Informed Recommendations for Designing Inclusive Playgrounds

Brown

Ross

Leo

et al. 2021

Front. Rehabilit. Sci.

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Background: Playgrounds provide children with many sensory, motor, and socioemotional experiences that are critical to child development. Unfortunately, playgrounds also represent an environment where children with disabilities experience barriers to accessing play. Structures and materials that are prominently found in almost all playground designs (e.g., swings, slides, sand) can present as obstacles for many children with disabilities to engage in independent play.Aims: This scoping review engaged in the empirical literature to address the research question, “What are the evidence-informed recommendations for designing inclusive playgrounds to enable participation for children with disabilities?” Consideration was given not only to the physical design of playgrounds, but also the playgrounds' surrounding built and social environments.Methods: A systematic search of Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, EMBase, ERIC and Scopus was conducted. Only peer-reviewed literature published in English between January 1990 and January 2021, with a primary focus on inclusive playground structure design related to any type of disability were included. Data extraction included the study author(s), year of publication, country of origin, purpose, disability types considered, methods, sample characteristics and key findings. Key findings were synthesized into evidence-informed recommendations, which were later collated, using inductive content analysis, into five broader thematically congruent groups.Results: Thirty-five studies were included using case study (n = 17); observational (n = 6); survey (n = 5); experimental (n = 4); and multiple study (n = 3) designs. Thirteen evidence-based recommendations and one promising practice were categorized into five broad playground elements: entry points; surfacing and paths; features to foster inclusive play; staffing/supervision; and design process.Conclusion: These recommendations build upon previous design-based best-practices that focused exclusively on the physical design of the playground. Our recommendations have implications for how future playgrounds should be designed to maximize usability and inclusiveness and the overall playground experiences for children with disabilities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

A Scoping Review of Evidence-Informed Recommendations for Designing Inclusive Playgrounds

Brown

Ross

Leo

et al. 2021

Front. Rehabilit. Sci.

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“…Inviting and welcoming public feedback both immediately following construction, and at points in time in the future, can evoke further learnings in terms of material choices that were made. It is important to assess whether the design has been successful (Moore, Lynch & Boyle, 2020). Finally, it is imperative to communicate the design process and outcomes to ensure that other designers have a starting point to enable universal design in playgrounds, with the ultimate aim of creating inclusive places for all.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Te Pua Keith Park – Nau mai, Haere mai Let’s Play Together

Copeland

Stringer

Naylor³

et al. 2022

jps

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Te Pua/Keith Park playground employed an innovative early program of co-design with an All Abilities Project Group (AAPG), representing disability organisations and key stakeholders from the community. Through ongoing engagement with disabled people as experts, the outcome was an inclusive and welcoming play space for a diverse range of children, young people and their caregivers.Play equipment included a range of vestibular, visual, and auditory pieces as well as a customised 2m high wheelchair accessible play tower for inclusive play experiences. Caregivers were enabled to play with their children through smooth and step-free surfaces as well as specific play equipment such as an adult and child swing. Children and young people of different ages and abilities were encouraged to sit/lie/stand in the basket swing and see-saw together. Unique to this playground, communication boards were innovatively and collaboratively designed with visual images representing various features of the playground and QR codes linking to online videos with New Zealand Sign Language.In addition to play equipment, the AAPG identified that the toilet facilities were crucial to ensuring accessibility to many families, including those with bigger children or teens with access needs who were often faced with the reality of needing to be changed in unsanitary and unsafe ways without the appropriate facilities being available. Keith Park worked with a leading toilet manufacturer to co-design a bespoke double toilet block with enhanced accessibility features including an adult-sized change table.Every aspect of the park was carefully selected and designed including fencing, furniture, plants and colours. Colour enhanced accessibility by guiding children with low vision and created a play circuit to assist the neurodiverse community. The resultant playground is one that welcomes all to play, which is a core tenet of child development, socialisation and participation. Read the full article in accessible html-format here.

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“…Play is considered a fundamental occupation of childhood and has important implications for children's health and well-being [44][45][46][47]. Although playground structures are created with the intention to support play opportunities, children with a disability may experience barriers to engaging with these environmental structures [11]. This is an issue worth addressing as nearly 1 in 10 children worldwide have one or more disabilities [16].…”

Section: Evaluating For Inclusive Play On Existing Playgroundsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These environmental fixtures are designed to promote children’s outdoor, active, and imaginative play without financial barriers. Furthermore, playgrounds are an environmental context where children can develop social, physical, and motor skills through play and interaction with others [ 11 , 12 ]. Although access to playground infrastructure has been positively correlated with outdoor play for typically developing children [ 2 ], research suggests that children with disabilities do not share equal opportunities for accessing and engaging with playgrounds as their peers without disabilities [ 13 ], and face exclusion from community play spaces [ 14 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In playgrounds, children’s play behaviours are determined by interactions with others and physical competence within the setting [ 18 ]. This means children who experience disabilities can experience exclusion from participation in play, due to factors such as inadequate access, inadequate play options and play value, and limited opportunities for social interaction [ 11 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Playground Inclusivity for Children With a Disability: Protocol for a Scoping Review

Taylor¹,

Vanderloo²,

Arbour-Nicitopoulos³

et al. 2022

JMIR Res Protoc

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Background Although playgrounds are designed to promote outdoor play, children with disabilities may be unable to engage in these spaces due to intrinsic and extrinsic factors. Previous research has examined inclusive/accessible playground design when developing new playgrounds; however, it is unclear if there is a best-practice tool for evaluating the inclusivity of existing playground structures. Objective A scoping review of both peer-reviewed and grey literature will be employed to explore evaluation tools for playground inclusivity, to enable the participation of children with disabilities. Methods The conduct of this study will adhere to the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines. A search for peer-reviewed research studies will be conducted in the following electronic databases: MEDLINE, Scopus, CINAHL, and Embase. Grey literature will be examined via a three-step process: (1) a search in the Canadian Health Research Collection Database; (2) a targeted Google search; and (3) reference list searching. Titles, abstracts, keywords, and full texts of identified studies will be independently screened for inclusion by two reviewers. A synthesis of included articles will describe the publication and auditing tool details. A summary of the findings will highlight the types of playgrounds measured, types of disability considered, measures of inclusion used, and psychometric properties. Results Database searches for peer-reviewed articles were completed in December 2021. A total of 1471 unique records were returned after the removal of 559 duplicate records. Full texts of 167 studies meeting eligibility criteria will be reviewed. The peer-reviewed research search will guide the grey literature search. The scoping review is planned for completion in 2022. Conclusions A rigorous search of the literature will determine the availability of tools for evaluating existing playground structures for the inclusivity of children with disabilities. The results will inform recommendations on tool applications, and applicable knowledge translation activities. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/37312

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Can universal design support outdoor play, social participation, and inclusion in public playgrounds? A scoping review

Cited by 26 publications

References 86 publications

A Scoping Review of Evidence-Informed Recommendations for Designing Inclusive Playgrounds

A Scoping Review of Evidence-Informed Recommendations for Designing Inclusive Playgrounds

Te Pua Keith Park – Nau mai, Haere mai Let’s Play Together

Playground Inclusivity for Children With a Disability: Protocol for a Scoping Review

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