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Understanding and promoting healthy aging is important in the face of a rapidly aging population (He et al., 2015). It is becoming increasingly more common that individuals are not meeting physical activity guidelines and it has also been shown that physical activity levels tend to decrease with increasing age (Langhammer et al., 2018). Regular physical activity is crucial to living a long and healthy life, but like many often overlook the importance of physical activity and how this can affect us as we age (Galloway & Jokl, 2000). As a result older adults are at higher risk of suffering from many negative health conditions (Gaetano & Altavilla, 2016). Multiple studies have explored how environmental factors affect physical activity levels; this literature has not been recently synthesized nor has any synthesis focused on focused on older adults. Older adults may experience environmental risks differently than younger populations. This systematic review will synthesize the research addressing the impact of environmental factors including season (including daylength), weather conditions (temperature, precipitation, wind, humidity), air quality and greenspace as potential determinants of exercise participation in older adults (60 years of age and older).

Adolescence, defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as the period of age from 10 to 19 years, is an important phase of life for diet quality (Adolescent Health, n.d.), due to both physical and social changes (Das et al., 2017; Neufeld et al., 2022). Smartphone app-based nutrition interventions are particularly useful for the adolescent population due to their frequent use of smartphones (“Teens, Social Media & Technology,” 2018). Furthermore, despite the impact of equity factors (e.g., socioeconomic status (SES), gender, ethnicity, place of residence) on dietary intake and mHealth’s claim of increased accessibility for diverse and hard to reach communities (Kumanyika, 2019; World Health Organization & International Telecommunication Union, 2021), there is a lack of research on the reporting of equity factors in the evaluation of smartphone app-based nutrition intervention research. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review is to examine a) the effectiveness of smartphone app-based interventions on adolescents’ dietary intake and b) the frequency with which equity factors and statistical analyses specific to equity factors are reported in these intervention studies.

A systematic realist review of healthy-community type legislative instruments and policies at the local government level in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

While playgrounds are designed to promote children’s outdoor play, children with disabilities may be unable to engage in these spaces due to their limitations and a lack of access to appropriate equipment. Previous research has examined inclusive/accessible playground design when developing new playgrounds. It is unclear, however, if there is a best-practice tool for evaluating the inclusivity of existing playground structures. The purpose of this research is to determine what tools should be used to evaluate existing playground structures for inclusivity to enable the participation of children with disabilities. The overarching objective for this review, is to provide practitioners in the children’s health and recreation fields with resources for evidence-based decision making when aiming to increase inclusivity of playground environments for children with disabilities.

Canadian municipalities face a complex decision on how they tackle the ‘wicked problem’ of climate change over the next decades. One form of sustainable transportation that municipalities could pursue is light electric vehicles (LEVs), commonly referred to as e-bikes and e-scooters or referred to as a Power Assisted-Bicycle by Transportation Canada. Transportation-related policies and plans of Canadian municipalities were evaluated for their consideration of LEVs. Municipalities were selected based on having a university campus within their boundaries, as this is where the highest density of Canadian population resides. The analysis spreads across all 10 provinces in Canada. There are significant policy gaps between provinces regarding the use of e-scooters that e-bikes do not face, and this is something that needs to be addressed.

Zoning has been proposed as a way of reducing unhealthy food access for youth, but little research has evaluated outcomes of proposed or existing junk food bans, and even less research has considered equity implications of such zoning policies. In this simulation study, set in the Region of Waterloo, Ontario (Canada), we examined how secondary student access to fast food restaurants and convenience stores would change under such a policy over 10 years in a mid-sized Canadian municipality. Outcomes are presented by school-level advantage (derived from the proportion of students in equity-deserving subgroups: low income, students who speak English as an additional language, and students not born in Canada). Current fast food restaurant and convenience store access was higher around schools with a higher proportion of equity-deserving students, and access remained higher around these schools even after 10 years under each policy scenario. After 10 years, the mean number of fast food restaurants and convenience stores within a 1-km network distance still exceeded five unhealthy outlets for both disadvantaged and advantaged schools, which was above the threshold associated with lower junk food consumption among youth. These findings bring into question the potential effectiveness and equity implications of restrictive zoning policies aimed at protecting youth from poor-quality food environments.

Additional file 1.

In "The Good Food for Learning Universal Curriculum-Integrated Healthy School Lunch Intervention: Protocol for a Two-Year Matched Control Pre-Post and Case Study" (JMIR Res Protoc 2021;10(9):e30899), one error was noted. In the originally published paper, one author, Sylvana Tu, was not included in the list of authors. Sylvana Tu has now been included in the authorship list between authors Sinikka Elliott and Brent Hills. Sylvana Tu's author affiliation has also been added as follows: Saskatchewan Population Health Evaluation and Research Unit, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada This affiliation has been added as affiliation 9 in the corrected paper, and the remaining affiliations have been renumbered accordingly. The full list of authorship and affiliations was as follows in the originally published paper: Rachel Engler-Stringer1, PhD; Jennifer Black2, PhD; Nazeem Muhajarine1, PhD; Wanda Martin3, PhD; Jason Gilliland4, PhD; Janet McVittie5, PhD; Sara Kirk6, PhD; Hannah Wittman2, PhD; Amin Mousavi7, PhD; Sinikka Elliott8, PhD; Brent Hills9, MEd; Gordon Androsoff10, MSc; Debbie Field11, MA; Brit Macdonald12, BA; Chelsea Belt13, MSc; Hassan Vatanparast14, PhD 1Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada 2Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada 3College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada 4Western University, London, ON, Canada 5Department of Educational Foundations, College of Education, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada 6School of Health and Human Performance, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada 7Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, College of Education, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada 8Department of Sociology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada 9Saskatoon Public Schools Division, Saskatoon, SK, Canada 10CHEP Good Food Inc, Saskatoon, SK, Canada 11Coalition for Healthy School Food, Food Secure Canada, Montreal, QC, Canada 12Little Green Thumbs Program, Agriculture in the Classroom, Saskatoon, SK, Canada 13Health Promotion Department, Saskatchewan Health Authority, Saskatoon, SK, Canada 14College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada This has been corrected to: Rachel Engler-Stringer1, PhD; Jennifer Black2, PhD; Nazeem Muhajarine1, PhD; Wanda Martin3, PhD; Jason Gilliland4,PhD; Janet McVittie5, PhD; Sara Kirk6, PhD; Hannah Wittman2, PhD; Amin Mousavi7, PhD; Sinikka Elliott8, PhD; Sylvana Tu9, MPH; Brent Hills10, MEd; Gordon Androsoff11, MSc; Debbie Field12, MA; Brit Macdonald13, BA; Chelsea Belt14, MSc; Hassan Vatanparast15, PhD 1Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada 2Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada 3College of Nursing, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada 4Western University, London, ON, Canada 5Department of Educational Foundations, College of Education, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada 6School of Health and Human Performance, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada 7Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, College of Education, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada 8Department of Sociology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada 9Saskatchewan Population Health Evaluation and Research Unit, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada 10Saskatoon Public Schools Division, Saskatoon, SK, Canada 11CHEP Good Food Inc, Saskatoon, SK, Canada 12Coalition for Healthy School Food, Food Secure Canada, Montreal, QC, Canada 13Little Green Thumbs Program, Agriculture in the Classroom, Saskatoon, SK, Canada 14Health Promotion Department, Saskatchewan Health Authority, Saskatoon, SK, Canada 15College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada.

Additional file 1: Appendix A. Semi-Structured Interview Guide for Parent Interviews. Appendix B. Semi-Structured Interview Guide for Child Interviews.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating effects on all aspects of life, with everything from the business sector to schools having been affected by it. It has given the world a chance to realize new and emerging diseases that can cause pandemics are a constant threat. Additionally, the pandemic has shown with greater clarity how much people rely on food as a daily necessity, and how easily food access can be threatened. The pandemic has left many grocery stores, supermarkets, restaurants, bars, bakeries, cafés, and coffee shops in the food retail and food service industry struggling to survive even though food is so essential. With many people staying home because they are fearful of contracting the virus and they are heeding public health advice, food service businesses have fewer customers. Although many people are still getting food delivered and ordering takeout, the pandemic has simply resulted in fewer customers overall. This drop in orders, coupled with periodic government restrictions on dine-in options, has led to reduced overall food retail business profitability. Although the government has helped by introducing some financial COVID-19 benefits and services, these programs have restricted eligibility requirements that have not worked for every business. As a major grocery chain, Melcom has taken this opportunity to make an impact on the communities it serves by enhancing its corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts. Melcom has always engaged in socially responsible community projects such as back-to-school food drives and university scholarships for children from low-income neighbourhoods. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food industry, Melcom decided to partner with HEALab to expand their corporate social responsibility to affected businesses. This new project would entail conducting research into the food business industry and researching what measures could be taken to help Melcom’s partners and possible research into communities facing food insecurity during the pandemic. This case uses Melcom as an example of a grocery store chain that has engaged in new corporate social responsibility initiatives because of the pandemic. By examining this case, information can be drawn about how local, provincial, federal governments, local partners/stakeholders and corporate partners can support food business industry during a public health emergency.

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-pec-10.1177_03010066211058802 for Preliminary Evaluation of the Moving Rubber Foot Illusion in a Sample of Female University Students by Max Teaford, Jason Gilliland, Olivia Hodkey, Tara McVeigh, Caleb Perry, Lyric Rains-Bury and L. James Smart in Perception

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-pec-10.1177_03010066211058802 for Preliminary Evaluation of the Moving Rubber Foot Illusion in a Sample of Female University Students by Max Teaford, Jason Gilliland, Olivia Hodkey, Tara McVeigh, Caleb Perry, Lyric Rains-Bury and L. James Smart in Perception

Additional file 2: Table S2. Quality Assessment for Included Studies (n = 24).

Additional file 1: Table S1. Sample Search Strategy (EMBASE).

The Elgin-St. Thomas, London-Middlesex, and Oxford Active and Safe Routes to School (ASRTS) Steering Committee have established a School Travel Planning Equity Working Group. The goal of this group is to use the Government of Ontario’s Health Equity Impact Assessment tool to evaluate current inequities in school travel planning programming – a community-based approach to addressing barriers to and facilitators of walking and wheeling to and from school – by identifying relevant populations, potential impacts, and mitigation, monitoring, and dissemination strategies (Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, 2018). The goal of the case is to provide readers with the opportunity to evaluate the inequities in current school travel planning by conducting a Health Equity Impact Assessment.

In the original publication of this article [1], the institutional author's name needs to be revised from The Paediatric Chairs of Canada Mark Bernstein to The Paediatric Chairs of Canada.

This study examines the neighborhood activity spaces (NAS) of 9- to 13-year-old children (n = 143) from seven schools in London, Canada. Data from Global Positioning System (GPS) loggers worn for 7 days were used to isolate and test measures for children’s pedestrian-based neighborhood activity: the maximum distance traveled from home and relative time spent in neighborhood settings. Descriptive and linear regression analyses examined the influence of individual, perceptual, and environmental factors on neighborhood use and travel. Participants spent a large portion of their out-of-school time (75%) in their NAS. Although traveling far from home on occasion, 94.5% of children’s time on average was spent within a short distance of home; participants spent little of their free time in broader neighborhood settings. School travel mode and independent mobility were among the strongest predictors of both distance traveled and time spent close to home. Perceptions of neighborhood safety, neighborhood type, and nearby land uses also influenced local activity.

For children and youth, the journey to and from school represents a significant opportunity to increase daily levels of physical activity by using non-motorized modes of travel, such as walking and biking. Studies of active school travel have demonstrated that the likelihood a child will walk or bike is significantly influenced by the distance they must travel between home and school, which in turn, is influenced by built environment characteristics such as the configuration of the local road network. This study examines how shortcuts can facilitate active school travel by decreasing the distance children must travel to get to and from school. A geographic information system was used to compare shortest route distances along road networks with and without shortcuts in 32 elementary school zones in London, Ontario, Canada and provide evidence on the effectiveness of shortcuts to facilitate active school travel. This study contributes two key findings: (1) shortcuts have a greater impact in areas with low street connectivity and low population density and (2) children living farther from school are more likely to benefit from shortcuts. The findings suggest that planners should consider the location and maintenance of shortcuts in school neighbourhoods in order to promote increased physical activity, health and well-being among students.

Although studies have looked at the effect of physical activity on obesity and other health outcomes, the causal nature of this relationship remains unclear. We fill this gap by investigating the impact of leisure‐time physical activity (LTPA) and work‐related physical activity (WRPA) on obesity and chronic conditions in Canadians aged 18–75 using instrumental variable and recursive bivariate probit approaches. Average local temperatures surrounding the respondents' interview month are used as a novel instrument to help identify the causal relationship between LTPA and health outcomes. We find that an active level of LTPA (i.e. walking ≥1 h/day) reduces the probability of obesity by five percentage points, which increases to 11 percentage points if also combined with some WRPA. WRPA exhibits a negative effect on the probability of obesity and chronic conditions.

This article presents a methodological model for the study of the space‐time patterns of everyday life. The framework utilizes a wide range of qualitative and quantitative sources to create two environmental stages, social and built, which place and contextualize the daily mobilities of individuals as they traverse urban environments. Additionally, this study outlines a procedure to fully integrate narrative sources in a GIS. By placing qualitative sources, such as narratives, within a stage‐based GIS, researchers can begin to tell rich spatial stories about the lived experiences of segregation, social interaction, and environmental exposure. The article concludes with a case study utilizing the diary of a postal clerk to outline the wide applicability of this model for space‐time GIS research.

Various geospatial techniques have been employed to estimate children’s exposure to environmental cardiometabolic risk factors, including junk food. But many studies uncritically rely on exposure proxies which differ greatly from actual exposure. Misrepresentation of exposure by researchers could lead to poor decisions and ineffective policymaking. This study conducts a GIS-based analysis of GPS tracks—‘activity spaces’—and 21 proxies for activity spaces (e.g. buffers, container approaches) for a sample of 526 children (ages 9–14) in London, Ontario, Canada. These measures are combined with a validated food environment database (including fast food and convenience stores) to create a series of junk food exposure estimates and quantify the errors resulting from use of different proxy methods. Results indicate that exposure proxies consistently underestimate exposure to junk foods by as much as 68%. This underestimation is important to policy development because children are exposed to more junk food than estimated using typical methods.

Objective To investigate the association between fast-food restaurant density and adult body mass index (BMI) in Canada. Methods Individual-level BMI and confounding variables were obtained from the 2007–2008 Canadian Community Health Survey master file. Locations of the fast-food and full-service chain restaurants and other non-chain restaurants were obtained from the 2008 Infogroup Canada business database. Food outlet density (fast-food, full-service and other) per 10,000 population was calculated for each Forward Sortation Area (FSA). Global (Moran's I) and local indicators of spatial autocorrelation of BMI were assessed. Ordinary least squares (OLS) and spatial auto-regressive error (SARE) methods were used to assess the association between local food environment and adult BMI in Canada. Results Global and local spatial autocorrelation of BMI were found in our univariate analysis. We found that OLS and SARE estimates were very similar in our multivariate models. An additional fast-food restaurant per 10,000 people at the FSA-level is associated with a 0.022 kg/m2 increase in BMI. On the other hand, other restaurant density is negatively related to BMI. Conclusions Fast-food restaurant density is positively associated with BMI in Canada. Results suggest that restricting availability of fast-food in local neighborhoods may play a role in obesity prevention.

Purpose: Fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption was examined among children aged seven to 10 years in a London, Ontario, neighbourhood. The goal was to determine areas requiring targeted programs to promote healthy lifestyles. Methods: Data were gathered from 136 students in grades 2 to 4. Each student attended one of four elementary schools within a neighbourhood designated a priority by the City of London Child and Youth Network. The Day in the Life Questionnaire was used to collect the data. Instances of FV consumption were compared with Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide (CFG) guidelines. Results: Ninety-eight percent of participants did not follow the CFG-recommended minimum guidelines; they had fewer than five instances of FV consumption daily. Eighty-seven percent had fewer than two instances of FV consumption daily. Conclusions: These data support national findings of low FV consumption among children.

The Pacific Northwest underwent rapid economic growth in the late 19th century and cities on both sides of the Canada/US border burgeoned. The building boom was sustained by a large cohort of tradesmen and skilled labourers who lived in modest cabins, tenement blocks, boarding houses, and residential hotels. Most of these urban wageworkers were unmarried. They left few records of their experiences outside the job site or union hall. In this case study of Victoria, British Columbia circa 1891, we deployed a historical geographical information system (HGIS) to reconstitute the urban residential and social space of about 2,000 otherwise elusive working men. Our research framework combines qualitative methods that are familiar to historians and quantitative methods favoured by geospatial researchers. By integrating both qualitative and quantitative data, we are able to represent the multiple spatial conditions experienced by Victoria’s wageworkers in the early 1890s. In the process, we repopulated the city and reconstructed a largely vanished urban landscape. A primary objective of the essay is to demonstrate how gis can be used as a research tool and new epistemology in the field of labour history.

not available., BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly, No 169: Spring 2011

This pilot study tested a child-guided protocol integrating qualitative field techniques with spatial analysis tools to explore children’s neighborhood perceptions and use. Sixteen children aged 7-9 in London, Canada led researchers and city planners on guided walks of their school neighborhood to document and discuss places of significance to them. Children were equipped with digital cameras and maps to record neighborhood features, while adult facilitators recorded the ongoing dialogue and tracked the routes taken with GPS units. Children’s photographs from the walks supported a group photo-elicitation exercise that further probed and clarified the children’s community perspectives. Location data from the GPS and narratives allowed for the analysis of children’s comments and photographs within a geographic information system (GIS). Thematic and spatial analysis of narratives and photographs revealed significant but complex patterns of neighborhood perception and use, suggesting that this child-led protocol is an effective tool for engaging children in community assessment and for revealing their local lived experience.

This investigation sought to gain an understanding of how youth perceive neighborhood environmental influences on their physical activity and eating behaviors. This qualitative study targeted a heterogeneous sample of 12- to 14- year-olds in London, Ontario, Canada. Using a semi-structured interview guide, we conducted nine focus groups (n = 60) and used inductive content analysis to investigate their discussions. Most participants discussed their school, parks, and opportunity structures around their homes as influencing their physical activity, and overwhelmingly reported the availability of fast-food restaurants, convenience stores, and slow-food restaurants in their neighborhoods as influencing their eating practices. The descriptive information collected through this study is potentially significant for the efforts of city planners, policy makers, health professionals, school officials, and parents to promote and support healthier youth behaviors.

Sample Report for Standard Lifestyle Intervention (Control Group). Sample population-based lifestyle recommendations and information provided to the control group (DOCX 13 kb)

Supplemental material, EandB875180_Online_appendix_CLN for “Reduce Food Waste, Save Money”: Testing a Novel Intervention to Reduce Household Food Waste by Paul van der Werf, Jamie A. Seabrook and Jason A. Gilliland in Environment and Behavior

Sample Report for Standard Lifestyle Intervention (Control Group). Sample population-based lifestyle recommendations and information provided to the control group (DOCX 13 kb)

Additional file 1. Search strategy

GLB™ Program [52]/NOW Trial Curriculum and Modifications for Genetic Testing Intervention Groups. Legend for Additional file 4. 1. The physical activity goal and references to fat grams were verbally modified in the “To Do” lists at the end of sessions. Participants were reminded about how response to different diets and physical activity for weight loss differ from person to person. Based on their personalized genetic report, participants were advised and taught how to reach their personal nutrition and physical activity goals. This modification occurred throughout the GLB™ Program’s “To Do” lists and is not included in Additional file 4. 2. The GLB™ Curriculum begins in class 2. Class 1 allows for an overview of nutrition and physical activity guidelines either based on [1] the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges and population-based health information and recommendations or [2] genetic-based information and recommendations. Refer to Additional files 2 and 3 for sample reports provided in class 1. 3. Participants were informed about how the program is typically used for individuals with pre-diabetes, since our population consisted of overweight/obese adults who may or may not have pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes. (DOCX 19 kb)

Sample Report for Personalized Lifestyle Intervention. Sample genetic-based lifestyle recommendations and information provided to the lifestyle genomics intervention group (DOCX 14 kb)

Proposed Extended CONSORT Checklist of Items for Reporting Pragmatic Trials [42]. Checklist of items to include in a pragmatic RCT (DOCX 18 kb)

Supplemental material, EandB875180_Online_appendix_CLN for “Reduce Food Waste, Save Money”: Testing a Novel Intervention to Reduce Household Food Waste by Paul van der Werf, Jamie A. Seabrook and Jason A. Gilliland in Environment and Behavior

Proposed Extended CONSORT Checklist of Items for Reporting Pragmatic Trials [42]. Checklist of items to include in a pragmatic RCT (DOCX 18 kb)

GLB™ Program [52]/NOW Trial Curriculum and Modifications for Genetic Testing Intervention Groups. Legend for Additional file 4. 1. The physical activity goal and references to fat grams were verbally modified in the “To Do” lists at the end of sessions. Participants were reminded about how response to different diets and physical activity for weight loss differ from person to person. Based on their personalized genetic report, participants were advised and taught how to reach their personal nutrition and physical activity goals. This modification occurred throughout the GLB™ Program’s “To Do” lists and is not included in Additional file 4. 2. The GLB™ Curriculum begins in class 2. Class 1 allows for an overview of nutrition and physical activity guidelines either based on [1] the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Ranges and population-based health information and recommendations or [2] genetic-based information and recommendations. Refer to Additional files 2 and 3 for sample reports provided in class 1. 3. Participants were informed about how the program is typically used for individuals with pre-diabetes, since our population consisted of overweight/obese adults who may or may not have pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes. (DOCX 19 kb)

Quality Assessment Tool for Genetic Interventions [11]. Legend for Additional file 5. *CD, cannot determine; NR, not reported; NA, not applicable (DOCX 13 kb)

Additional file 1. Search strategy

Quality Assessment Tool for Genetic Interventions [11]. Legend for Additional file 5. *CD, cannot determine; NR, not reported; NA, not applicable (DOCX 13 kb)

Sample Report for Personalized Lifestyle Intervention. Sample genetic-based lifestyle recommendations and information provided to the lifestyle genomics intervention group (DOCX 14 kb)