Physical activity and the impacts of built environment on the use of neighboring sports equipment by elementary and high schools: The case of the “Blue, White, Move” [Bleu, Blanc, Bouge] skating rink in Montreal-North

• Authors: Romain Roult , Jean-Marc Adjizian , Sylvain Lefebvre , Lucie Lapierre
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Background: Evaluate how neighboring sports equipment is used by elementary and high schools to reinforce physical activity among youth. Analyze the impacts of built environments on the forms of use of this type of equipment and attempt to distinguish the positive and negative effects of its installation.Material/Methods: 22 semi-led interviews were undertaken among elementary and high school participants and managers of the skating rink. 33 phases of observation were made with the SOPLAY grid. Data from the interviews was analyzed with Atlas software in order to categorize the information. The information from the observations was processed with SPSS software in order to calculate certain levels of frequency.Results: The frequent use of the rink by the schools leads us to believe that there really was an appropriation of the sports equipment. Nevertheless, this appropriation is incomplete, mainly because of a lack of information, of accessibility, and of animation. Concurrently, the size of the group, the types of offered activities, and the number of accompanying adults per student highly influenced the level of student participation and physical activity.Conclusions: The skating rink’s appeal should be reinforced through a closer collaboration between the acting managers of the rink and of the schools. Concurrently, in order for the schools to truly consider the skating rink as an educational sports facility, various human and logistics supports coupled to targeted communication and animation strategies should be implemented.

Keywords

EN

child/adolescent health; environmental health; physical activity/exercise; school health; Montreal

• Publisher: Versita
• Journal: Baltic Journal of Health and Physical Activity
• Year: 2013
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 115-120

Dates

published

1 - 06 - 2013

online

28 - 06 - 2013

Contributors

author

Romain Roult

• Département d’études en loisir, culture et tourisme, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, 3351, boul. Des Forges, C.P. 500, Pavillon Ringuet (local 4030), Trois-Rivières, (Québec), G9A 5H7, Phone: [phone] poste 3286; Fax. [phone]

author

Jean-Marc Adjizian

• Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Montreal, Canada

author

Sylvain Lefebvre

• Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Montreal, Canada

author

Lucie Lapierre

• Universite de Montreal, Montreal, Canada

References

• 1. Giles-Corti B, Broomhall MH, Knuiman M, et al. Increasing walking: how important is distance to, appeal, and size of public open space? Am J Prev Med. 2005;28:169-176.
• 2. Giles-Corti B, Donovan RJ. The relative influence of individual, social and physical environment determinants of physical activity. Soc Sci Med. 2002;54:1793-1812.[Crossref]
• 3. Handy SL, Boarnet MG, Ewing R, Killingsworth RE. How the built environment affects physical activity: views from urban planning. Am J Prev Med. 2002;23:64-73.[Crossref][PubMed]
• 4. Day K, Boarnet M, Alfonzo M, Forsyth A. The Irvine-Minnesota inventory to measure built environments: development. Am J Prev Med. 2006;30:144-152.[PubMed][Crossref]
• 5. Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec (INSPQ), L’impact de l’environnement bâti sur l’activité physique, l’alimentation et le poids. Québec, Canada, Publications Gouvernementales; 2010.
• 6. Frank, L. and al. Urban form relationships with walk trip frequency and distance among youth. Am J Health Promot. 2007;21:305-311.[Crossref]
• 7. Sallis JF Johnson MF, Calfas KJ, Caparosa S, Nichols JF. Assessing perceived physical environmental variables that may influence physical activity. Res Q Exerc Sport. 1997;68:345-351.[Crossref][PubMed]
• 8. Sallis JF. Measuring physical activity environments: a brief history. Am J Prev Med. 2009;36:86-92.[Crossref]
• 9. Molnar BE, Gortmaker SL, Bull FC, et al. Unsafe to play? Neighborhood disorder and lack of safety predict reduced physical activity among urban children and adolescents. Am J Health Promot. 2004;18:378-386.[Crossref][PubMed]
• 10. Leventhal T, Brooks-Gunn, J. The neighborhoods they live in: the effects of neighbourhood residence on child and adolescent outcomes. Psychol Bull. 2000;126(2):309-337.
• 11. Ville de Montréal. 2009. Profilsociodémographique Montréal-Nord. [Online] Accessed 15 July, 2012. http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_pageid=6897,68087658&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL.
• 12. Fox CK, Barr-Anderson D, Neumark-Sztainer D, Wall M. Physical activity and sports team participation: associations with academic outcomes in middle school and high school students. J School Health. 2010;80 (1):31-37.
• 13. Fraser-Thomas J, Cote J. Understanding adolescents’ positive and negative developmental experiences in sport. Sport Psychol. 2009;23:3-23.

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/bjha-2013-0011