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The Physical Activity Neighborhood Environment Scale (PANES) has been used internationally; however, PANES properties have not been assessed in all geographical contexts. Our objectives were to assess the reliability and validity of an online and paper version of the PANES in Canadian adults. Reliability was estimated using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), percent of overall agreement (p0) and Cohen's Kappa coefficient (κ). Lower 95% confidence interval (CI) ICC ranged from 0.10 to 0.70. Lower 95%CI for κ statistics ranged from −0.20 to 0.64 and p0 ranged from 80.1% to 95.7%. Cronbach's alpha coefficients (α) estimated internal consistency of the PANES (α = 0.58 for the paper version and α = 0.55 for the online version). Mean scores for the PANES Built Environment Index (BEI) significantly differed by neighborhood street pattern (p <.05). The PANES administrated via paper or online provides reliable overall agreement and valid estimates of the self-reported neighborhood built environment supportiveness of physical activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of a tool to track participation in activity-based therapy (ABT) for people with spinal cord injury or disease (SCI/D) was identified as a priority of the Canadian ABT Community of Practice. The objective of this study was to understand multi-stakeholder perspectives on tracking ABT participation across the continuum of care. Forty-eight individuals from six stakeholder groups (persons living with SCI/D; hospital therapists; community trainers; administrators; researchers; and funders, advocates and policy experts) were recruited to participate in focus group interviews. Participants were asked open-ended questions concerning the importance of and parameters around tracking ABT. Transcripts were analyzed using conventional content analysis. Themes reflected the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How of tracking ABT. Participants described the importance of involving hospital therapists, community trainers and individuals with SCI/D in tracking ABT to capture both subjective and objective parameters across the continuum of care and injury trajectory. Digital tracking tools were favoured, although paper-based versions were regarded as a necessity in some circumstances. Findings highlighted the importance of tracking ABT participation for individuals with SCI/D. The information may guide the development of ABT practice guidelines and support the implementation of ABT in Canada. Tracking the details of activity-based therapy (ABT) sessions and programs across the continuum of care and injury trajectory may provide important information to support the development of ABT practice guidelines and implementation strategies. Tracking objective and subjective parameters are needed to provide a comprehensive description of an ABT session and program. Clinicians and individuals with spinal cord injury or disease (SCI/D) should both be able to track ABT to accommodate all settings and types of data. Digital tracking tools, such as an app, may provide an accessible, versatile and efficient way of tracking ABT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Best practice in mass reach physical activity campaigns includes a role for communities to support the initiative with sustained programs and shorter-term events. The purpose of this paper was to report on an outcome evaluation of ParticipACTION's 150 Play List, a population-level, year-long, national mass reach campaign that included community events. Participants (N = 1,185) were recruited in the last month of the program to complete a questionnaire measuring demographic information, leisure-time physical activity, campaign awareness, attitudes, intentions, and behavioral trialing. Data were also collected, measured using cell phone proximity, on the number of people who attended 150 Play List events, which ranged from large-scale (e.g. national sports events) to smaller community events. Approximately 43% of respondents were aware of the 150 Play List and 19.5% reported participating in some way (e.g. visiting the website). Almost half of the participants who were aware of the campaign reported increased sport or physical activity-related intentions. Among those who participated, 90.6% reported trying at least one physical activity or sport related behavior as a result of the 150 Play List, whereas only 27.5% (n = 75) of those who were aware but did not participate in the 150 Play List tried a behavior. Event attendance goals were mostly met or exceeded. The 150 Play List was valued by those aware of it and the campaign was related to interest in sport and physical activity in Canada. The community events had potential to augment campaign effects but adequate evaluation requires sufficient resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than 1 million Canadian adults play recreational ice hockey. Compared to elite players, very little is known about the physical and health characteristics of people who play the game for fun. Analyzing data from Statistics Canada's 2011/12 Canadian Community Health Survey, the paper found that there is an association between physically active males age 35 or over who play ice hockey regularly (at least once a week) and enhanced health more so than other physically active males. While these players are larger in body size, they have significantly lower rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease and report significantly higher rates of self-assessed health. Given the potential health benefits associated with this high intensity sport, the paper discusses ways in which participation can be promoted among less physically active adults and people who are new to the game or who have historically lower levels of participation including women and recent immigrants. Finally, the paper argues that compared to the very high costs associated with child and youth hockey, participation in adult recreational ice hockey is quite affordable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose:In Canada, two counseling services are offered to facilitate physical activity participation among persons with physical disabilities, yet both have encountered concerns related to the recruitment and retainment of clients. The purpose of this paper is to explore factors related to service adoption among nonusers, and the barriers and facilitators to maintaining service participation among adopters. Methods:Individuals who had never enrolled in the services (nonusers,n = 13) as well as current/previous service clients (adopters,n = 26) participated in interviews based on the Theoretical Domains Framework. Transcripts were subjected to deductive thematic analysis according to participant group. Results:Fifteen themes relating to service adoption within 10 of the 12 theoretical domains were identified for nonusers, while 23 themes relating to maintenence of service participation were identified across all 12 theoretical domains for adopters. Conclusions:The findings provide strategies to improve recruitment, adoption, and retention of clients in counseling services and to enhance the experiences of targeted service users. Implications for RehabiliationPeer support and education for equipment use should be built into physical activity programs to encourage participation among persons with physical disabilities.Programs that encourage physical activity among individuals with disabilities should be designed by practitioners to be responsive to a variety of needs, which are addressed in the program’s advertisements and offerings.The Theoretical Domains Framework is a useful framework for providing valuable insight about clients’ experiences of adoption and maintenance of a behavior change service, suggesting merit in other rehabilitation settings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Self-efficacy is arguably the strongest correlate of physical activity, yet some researchers suggest this is because the construct confounds ability with motivation. We examine a more circumscribed construct, called perceived capability (PC), meant to measure ability but not motivation and propose that the construct will not be related to unskilled physical activities but may be linked to skilled behaviors. The purpose of this paper was to examine whether a PC construct can be stripped of motivation using a vignette approach in both walking and resistance training behaviors. Participants were a random sample of 248 university students, who were then randomly assigned to either answer resistance training or walking behavior questions. Both groups completed a PC measure and reasons for their answer before and after reading a vignette that clarified the phrasing of capability to a literal use of the term. PC was significantly (p < .01) higher post- compared to pre-vignette and the differences were greater (p < .01) for walking than for resistance training. PC had significantly (p < .01) smaller correlations with intention and self-reported behavior post-disambiguation, which resulted in a null relationship with walking but a small correlation with resistance training behavior. When PC was combined with intention to predict behavior, however, there was no significant (p > .05) difference in the amount of variance explained pre- to post-vignette. Thought listing showed that participants did not report capability barriers to walking and over half of the sample construed capability as motivation/other priorities pre-vignette. The findings support use of a vignette approach for researchers who wish to disentangle the assessment of PC from motivation while creating no overall loss in explained variance of physical activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decades, public health has increasingly addressed what has been called the children's obesity 'epidemic', most notably through large-scale initiatives promoting physical activity. Through a discourse analysis the current paper critically examines such efforts in Canadian and Australian public health. Public health websites in Canada and Australia were examined for information concerning children's health, physical activity and obesity and explored for how these issues were represented in the discourse. Bacchi's (2009) 'What's the problem represented to be?' approach to discourse analysis guided our interrogation of the taken-for-granted assumptions underlying Canadian and Australian public health discourse, the ideological and political influences involved in its construction, and the knowledge base upon which it rests. The article calls for critical reflection on how children's physical and leisure activities are being advanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper elicited context specific underlying beliefs for physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption and smoke-free behaviour from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), and then determined whether the TPB explained significant variation in intentions and behaviour over a 1 month period in a sample of grade 7-9 (age 12-16 years) adolescents. Eighteen individual interviews and one focus group were used to elicit student beliefs. Analyses of this data produced behavioural, normative and control beliefs which were put into a TPB questionnaire completed by 183 students at time 1 and time 2. The Path analyses from the main study showed that the attitude/intention relationship was moderately large for fruit and vegetable consumption and small to moderate for being smoke free. Perceived behavioural control had a large effect on being smoke free and a moderately large effect for fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity. Intention had a large direct effect on all three behaviours. Common (e.g. feel better, more energy) and behaviour-specific (e.g., prevent yellow fingers, control my weight) beliefs emerged across the three health behaviours. These novel findings, to the adolescent population, support the importance of specific attention being given to each of the behaviours in future multi-behavioural interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the spatial distribution of recreational opportunities for children and youth in a mid-sized Canadian city (London, Ontario), in relation to the socioeconomic status of neighbourhoods and estimated local need for publicly provided recreation spaces. Public recreation facilities (N = 537) throughout the city were identified, mapped and analysed in a geographic information system. To explore potential socio-environmental inequities, neighbourhoods (N = 22) were characterized by socioeconomic and environmental variables, an index of neighbourhood social distress, a neighbourhood play space needs index, and measures of the prevalence and density of recreational opportunities. The results of the spatial analysis indicate there is no systematic socioenvironmental inequity with respect to the prevalence and density of publicly provided neighbourhood recreation spaces; however, there are several areas in the city where youth do not have access to formal play spaces. We argue that to promote physical activity among urban children and youth, city planners and health policy analysts should consider carefully the geographical distribution of existing recreational opportunities and ensure that new publicly funded recreation spaces are provided to neighbourhoods with the greatest need. Further research should seek to identify what kinds of recreation spaces are most effective for promoting healthy behaviours among vulnerable children and youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]