Changing Social and Built Environments to Promote Physical Activity: Recommendations from Low Income, Urban Women

Abstract

Background:Middle age and older (mean = 58.7 y), racial/ethnic minority women report low levels of physical activity. Recommendations to change the social and built environments to promote physical activity in this group are underdeveloped. Two research questions guided this study: What environmental changes are recommended by racial/ethnic minority women? What policies are related to the environmental changes?Methods:The findings from nine Nominal Group Technique sessions with 45 subjects were analyzed.Results:More police protection, cleaner streets, removal of drugs from streets, more street lights, walking groups, and free gyms were prioritized by subjects as the most important recommendations. The relevant policies included municipal, police department, sanitation department, public works, and transportation department.Conclusions:Racial/ethnic minority women living in low income, urban areas recommend improvements that affect overall quality of life. Meeting basic needs may be a prerequisite for use of physical activity resources.

Environmental Audits of Friendliness toward Physical Activity in Three Income Levels

“…Macintyre 34 emphasized that perceptions and social meanings attributed to features of the environment can influence the behavior of residents. Data on the social environment (e.g., perceptions of safety and crime) 35 and community-level factors (e.g., social capital and cohesiveness) 36 can be critical in understanding physical activity disparities. Moreover, perceived and objective measures of the environment may be differently associated with physical activity.…”

Neighborhood Characteristics, Adherence to Walking, and Depressive Symptoms in Midlife African American Women

“…24,26,28,29 The only study with a large representative sample of African American women found that women who reported vigorous exercise in both high school and adulthood had the lowest odds of depressive symptoms. 30 Despite evidence showing that perceived lack of neighborhood safety [46][47][48] and unpleasant aesthetics 49-53 (e.g., deterioration) are barriers to physical activity, only 1 of the 9 observational studies included these neighborhood problems. That study failed to examine the interaction between neighborhood problems and physical activity on depressive symptoms.…”

Physical Activity Resource Attributes and Obesity in Low-Income African Americans

“…14 Residents from lower SES neighborhoods display higher obesity prevalence as compared to residents of higher SES neighborhoods 15 and often contain lower-quality built environments leading to poor health behaviors and outcomes. [16][17][18] Lower-SES neighborhoods may also have a decreased number of PARs or low PAR density. 19,20 Lower PAR density has been associated with physical inactivity 21 and thus may contribute to higher obesity prevalence and higher body mass indexes (BMIs) in low-income neighborhoods.…”