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Background: Children's physical inactivity is a persisting international public health concern. While there is a large body of literature examining physical activity interventions for children, the unique physical activity context of low-density communities in rural areas and smaller urban centres remains largely underexplored. With an influx of families migrating to rural communities and small towns, evaluations of health promotion efforts that support physical activity are needed to ensure they are meeting the needs of the growing populations in these settings. The aim of this community-based research was to explore service providers' and parents' perspectives on physical activity opportunities available in their community and recommendations toward the development and implementation of efficacious physical activity programming for children in rural communities and smaller urban centres., Methods: Three in-person community forums with recreation service providers (n = 37 participants) and 1 online community forum with the parents of school-aged children (n = 9 participants) were hosted. An online survey and Mentimeter activity were conducted prior to the community forums to gather participants' views on the barriers and facilitators to physical activities and suggestions for activity-promoting programs. The service provider and parent discussions were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed following a deductive approach guided by Hseih and Shannon's (2005) procedure for direct content analysis. A code list developed from the responses to the pre-forum survey and Mentimeter activity was used to guide the analysis and category development., Results: Seven distinct categories related to the existing physical activity opportunities and recommendations for programs in rural communities and smaller urban centres were identified during the analysis: (1) Recovery from Pandemic-Related Measures, (2) Knowledge and Access to Programs, (3) Availability, (4) Personnel Support, (5) Quality of Programs and Facilities, (6) Expenses and Subsidies, and (7) Inclusivity and Preferences., Conclusion: To improve the health and well-being of children who reside in low-density areas, the results of this study highlight service provider and parent recommendations when developing and implementing community-based physical activity programs and interventions in rural and smaller urban settings, including skill development programs, non-competitive activity options, maximizing existing spaces for activities, and financial support., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: The implementation of community-based programs is key to effective, sustainable initiatives that can support population-level changes in children's physical activity. The purpose of this scoping review was to explore the implementation models and frameworks used to develop (process models), explore (determinant frameworks), and/or evaluate (evaluation frameworks) community-based physical activity programs for children. Also, the foundational components of the implementation models and frameworks and practical application in real-world settings were described., Methods: The methodological framework developed by Arksey and O'Malley (2005) and the updated recommendations from Levac, Colquhoun and O'Brien (2010) were used to search, identify, and summarize applicable studies. This review also met the requirements in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Scoping Reviews Checklist (PRISMA-ScR). A detailed search of six databases and three academic journals was conducted. Information about the article, the program, and the implementation model/framework were extracted and summarized., Results: The search retrieved 42,202 articles, of which 27 met the inclusion criteria. Eleven process models, one determinant framework, and two evaluation frameworks were identified. Nineteen components were developed from the models and frameworks. Tailoring, situational analysis, and element identification were common components among the identified models and frameworks., Conclusions: Since the execution of interventions is vital for creating successful health-promoting initiatives, researchers and program developers should consider using implementation models and frameworks to guide their community-based physical activity programs. Further research examining the application of new and existing implementation models and frameworks in developing, exploring, and evaluating community-level programs is warranted., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Objective: The objective was to examine the influence of weather on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and light physical activity (LPA) levels of children aged 8-14 years from rural communities, an understudied Canadian population., Methods: Children (n = 90) from four communities in rural Northwestern Ontario participated in this study between September and December 2016. Children's MVPA and LPA were measured using an Actical accelerometer and demographic data were gathered from surveys of children and their parents. Weather data were collected from the closest weather station. Cross-classified regression models were used to assess the relationship between weather and children's MVPA and LPA., Results: Boys accumulated more MVPA than girls (b = 26.38, p < 0.01), children were more active on weekdays as compared with weekends (b = - 16.23, p < 0.01), children were less active on days with precipitation (b = - 22.88, p < 0.01), and higher temperature led to a significant increase in MVPA (b = 1.33, p  < 0.01). As children aged, they accumulated less LPA (b = - 9.36, p < 0.01) and children who perceived they had higher levels of physical functioning got more LPA (b = 25.18, p = 0.02). Similar to MVPA, children had higher levels of LPA on weekdays (b = - 37.24, p < 0.01) as compared to weekend days and children accumulated less LPA (b = -50.01, p < 0.01) on days with rain., Conclusion: The study findings indicate that weather influences rural children's MVPA and LPA. Future research is necessary to incorporate these findings into interventions to increase rural children's overall PA levels and improve their overall health.

The purpose of this study was to measure the factors that influence children's moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during school curriculum time, recess time, and outside school time in a rural area. During the Fall and Winter of 2016, 34 boys and 55 girls aged 8-14 years from rural communities in rural Northwestern Ontario participated in the Spatial Temporal Environment and Activity Monitoring project. The children's MVPA was measured using an accelerometer, and child-level demographic, behavioral, and environmental data were gathered from surveys, passively logging global positioning units, and municipal datasets. Data on daily temperature and precipitation were gathered from the closest Environment Canada weather station. A mixed model was used to assess the relationship between child- and day-level factors and children's MVPA. On average, children were getting 12.9 min of MVPA during recess, 17.7 min during curriculum time, and 29.0 min of MVPA outside school time. During all three time points, boys were more active than girls. During curriculum time, children in lower grades were more active, and the weather had differing impacts depending on the time of day. The findings of this study illustrate the differences in MVPA and the factors that influence MVPA by time of day. Examining different time segments provides valuable information for understanding children's MVPA patterns.

Introduction: Low levels of physical activity among children are a significant public health concern in several industrialized nations. The current research body has failed to gather adequate information on various geographic regions. Understanding barriers and facilitators in different rural regions is imperative for creating successful physical activity interventions for children in rural areas. The purpose of this study is to explore rural children's perspectives on physical activity and to discuss barriers or facilitators to physical activity participation in rural Northwestern Ontario, Canada., Methods: Children (n=84) in Grades 4-8 (ages 8-14 years) in rural Northwestern Ontario participated in focus groups to discuss barriers and facilitators to physical activity. Twenty focus groups were conducted in schools. The focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. Subthemes were created based on the explicit content of the data and grouped to form broader themes., Results: Three key themes were identified: environment, social environment, and perceptions of safety. Environmental features include weather and the built environment. Social environment includes the role of friends and adults to either facilitate or restrict children's play. The fear of wildlife was pervasive across all focus groups and resulted in restricted independent mobility and physical activity., Conclusion: Rural children are typically under-represented in physical activity research. The findings of this study reveal that rural children experience some barriers to physical activity that are distinct from those of urban children. The findings suggest that researchers need to understand contextual nuances of the rural environment. Specific to the setting of Northwestern Ontario, these rural children could benefit from the addition of a skate park, indoor places to play, and more wildlife education.

Introduction: The rise in sedentary behaviour, coupled with the decline in overall mental health among Canadian children and youth in recent decades, demonstrates a clear need for applied research that focusses on developing and evaluating cross-disciplinary interventions. Outdoor spaces provide opportunities for physical activity and social connectedness, making them an ideal setting to address these critical health concerns among children and youth., Methods: We conducted a rapid review of peer-reviewed (n = 3096) and grey literature (n = 7) to identify physical activity and/or social connectedness outdoor space interventions targeted at children and youth (19 years and under) in Australia and New Zealand, Canada, Europe and the United States. We determined if interventions were effective by analyzing their research design, confidence intervals and reported limitations, and then conducted a narrative synthesis of the effective interventions., Results: We found 104 unique studies, of which 70 (67%) were determined to be effective. Overall, 55 interventions targeted physical activity outcomes, 10 targeted social connectedness outcomes and 5 targeted both. Play (n = 47) and contact with nature (n = 25) were dominant themes across interventions, with most taking place in a school or park. We report on the identifying features, limitations and implications of these interventions., Conclusion: The incorporation of natural and play-focussed elements into outdoor spaces may be effective ways to improve physical activity and social connectedness. There is a considerable need for more Canadian-specific research. Novel methods, such as incorporating smartphone technology into the design and evaluation of these interventions, warrant consideration., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest.

Background: Early experiences in physical activity (PA) are important to shape healthy movement behaviours long-term; as such, it is critical that PA is promoted from infancy, and that detrimental behaviours (e.g., prolonged sedentary time [ST]) are minimized. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine infants' and toddlers' movement behaviours across daytime hours., Methods: Seven online databases were searched for terms related to infants (< 12 months), toddlers (12-35.9 months), PA, ST, and accelerometry. Two independent reviewers examined 4873 articles for peer-reviewed original research, published in English, that assessed infants' (counts/min) and/or toddlers' PA or ST (min/day) using accelerometry across daytime hours. Infants' mean PA level (counts/min) was averaged across studies, and ranges were produced. Estimates of toddlers' movement behaviours were aggregated meta-analytically to produce average daily rates, and accelerometer placement, cut-point validity, device type, and epoch length were tested as a moderating variables., Results: Twenty-four studies from 16 countries (published 2011-2019), representing 3699 participants, were included in the systematic review. Five studies reported on infants' PA, which ranged from 78.2 to 2580.5 cpm. Across 20 studies, toddlers' total PA, light PA, moderate-to vigorous-intensity PA, and ST ranged from 72.9 to 636.5, 48.5 to 582.4, 6.5 to 89.9, and 172.7 to 545.0 min/day, respectively. After taking into account accelerometer placement, cut-point validity, device type, and epoch length, we found that toddlers engaged in 246.19 min/day (SE = 28.50; 95% CI: 190.34, 302.04) of total PA, 194.10 min/day (SE = 28.76; 95% CI: 137.73, 250.47) of light PA, and 60.16 min/day (SE = 5.88; 95% CI: 48.64, 71.69) of moderate-to vigorous-intensity PA. Toddlers engaged in 337.04 min/day (SE = 32.67; 95% CI: 273.01, 401.07) of ST., Conclusions: With limited studies conducted in infants (n = 5), PA estimates are inconclusive and largely heterogeneous. Overall, toddlers tend to exceed the total PA recommendation of 180 min/day; however, very little of this time is spent at higher movement intensities. Even with high PA rates, toddlers still engage in substantial ST. More consistent and valid measurement protocols are needed to improve comparability across studies.

Background: Lifestyle genomics (LGx) is a science that explores interactions between genetic variation, lifestyle components such as physical activity (PA), and subsequent health- and performance-related outcomes. The objective of this study was to determine whether an LGx intervention could motivate enhanced engagement in PA to a greater extent than a population-based intervention., Methods: In this pragmatic randomized controlled trial, participants received either the standard, population-based Group Lifestyle BalanceTM (GLB) program intervention or the GLB program in addition to the provision of LGx information and advice (GLB + LGx). Participants (n = 140) completed a 7-day PA recall at baseline, 3, 6, and 12 months. Data from the PA recalls were used to calculate metabolic equivalents (METs), a measure of energy expenditure. Statistical analyses included split plot analyses of covariance and binary logistic regression (generalized linear models). Differences in leisure time PA weekly METs, weekly minutes of moderate + high-intensity PA, and adherence to PA guidelines were compared between groups (GLB and GLB + LGx) across the 4 time points., Results: Weekly METs were significantly higher in the GLB + LGx group (1,114.7 ± 141.9; 95% CI 831.5-1,397.8) compared to the standard GLB group (621.6 ± 141.9 MET/week; 95% CI 338.4-904.8) at the 6-month follow-up (p = 0.01). All other results were non-significant., Conclusions: The provision of an LGx intervention resulted in a greater weekly leisure time PA energy expenditure after the 6-month follow-up. Future research should determine how this could be sustained over the long-term., Clinical Trial Registration: NCT03015012., (© 2020 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Background: Children's sedentary lifestyles and low physical activity levels may be countered using population-level interventions. This study examines factors influencing the use of a free community-wide physical activity access pass for grade 5 students (G5AP)., Methods: A natural experiment with longitudinal data collection. A sample of 881 children completed the 9-month follow-up survey self-reporting where they used the G5AP. Two analyses were conducted: Getis-Ord GI* geographic cluster analysis of the spatial distribution of users, and logistic regression examining the relationship between use and accessibility (informational, economic, and geographic) and mobility options, while accounting for intrapersonal and interpersonal factors., Results: Overall, 44.9% of children used the G5AP with clusters of high use in urban areas and low use in the suburbs. Other factors significantly related to G5AP included gender (girls), informational accessibility (active recruitment), economic accessibility (median household income), geographic accessibility (facilities within 1.6 km of home), and mobility options (access to Boys & Girls Club bus)., Conclusions: This study found that a diverse population of children used the G5AP. To continue being successful, community-based physical activity interventions need to ensure that the intervention increases geographic, economic, and informational accessibility and provides mobility options that are available to the target population.

Background: Some Canadian schools have modified their daily schedules from the traditional school day (TSD) schedule (two 15-minute breaks and one 60-minute break) to a balanced school day (BSD) schedule (two 40-minute breaks). While this change increases daily planning and instructional time, it also changes the amount of time available for moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA)., Methods: This study uses a case-control design to examine differences in objectively measured MVPA between children in 3 schools using a BSD schedule and 3 schools using a TSD schedule. Study participants (aged 10-12 years) were recruited from schools in Ontario, Canada., Results: Regardless of schedule type, girls had lower MVPA than boys, and as both boys and girls got older their MVPA significantly decreased. The findings indicate there was no statistically significant difference in the total minutes of in-school MVPA between children from BSD schools and children from TSD schools. MVPA was significantly higher for older girls attending BSD schools than older girls attending TSD schools, suggesting that implementing a BSD may help curb declining MVPA as girls enter adolescence., Conclusion: Despite encouraging findings, more rigorous studies (ie, pre-post experiments with control) are needed to better understand how changing schedules impacts children's health., (© 2019, American School Health Association.)

Children's perceptions of their environment have been associated with their physical activity (PA) levels, however a better understanding of the formation of perceptions within different contexts is needed. This will help to inform decision making related to physical inactivity trends in Canadian children. We examined socio-ecological factors influencing children's perceptions of barriers to PA in Ontario, Canada. Binary logistic regression models measured the relationship between perceptions of barriers and PA for 892 children in Ontario. At the intrapersonal level, girls reported the most barriers to PA. Interpersonally, children whose mother was employed reported the most barriers. At the physical environment level, children in urban and suburban neighbourhoods of large cities, and rural areas reported the most barriers, differing relative to population size. The major contribution of this paper is a new perspective of environmental influences on children's perceptions of PA, using an urbanicity spectrum, and highlighting place specific needs of Canadian children., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: The lack of policy, practice and research action on physical activity and features of the physical (built and natural) environments in rural, remote and northern settings is a significant threat to population health equity in Canada. This paper presents a synthesis of current evidence on the promotion of physical activity in non-urban settings, outcomes from a national priority-setting meeting, and a preliminary call to action to support the implementation and success of population-level initiatives targeting physical activity in non-urban settings., Methods: We conducted a "synopses of syntheses" scoping review to explore current evidence on physical activity promotion in rural, remote, northern and natural settings. Next, we facilitated a collaborative priority-setting conference with 28 Canadian experts from policy, research and practice arenas to develop a set of priorities on physical activity in rural, remote and northern communities. These priorities informed the development of a preliminary Canadian call to action., Results: We identified a limited number of reviews that focused on physical activity and the built environment in rural, remote and northern communities. At the prioritysetting conference, participants representing rural, remote and northern settings identified top priorities for policy, practice and research action to begin to address the gaps and issues noted in the literature. These priorities include self-identifying priorities at the community level; compiling experiences; establishing consistency in research definitions and methods; and developing mentorship opportunities., Conclusion: Coordinated action across policy, practice and research domains will be essential to the success of the recommendations presented in this call to action., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Context: As children's lifestyles have become increasingly sedentary, active school travel can be a relatively accessible way to increase their daily physical activity. In recent years, several different models of interventions have been utilized to promote children participating in active school travel. This review documents and analyzes the different active school travel intervention methodologies that have been used in North America (Canada or U.S.) by collecting, organizing, and evaluating data relating to all phases of active school travel interventions., Evidence Acquisition: This systematic review developed a key word search and applied it in six databases (BIOSIS Previews, GeoBase, PubMed, SCOPUS, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science) to gather scholarly literature. A total of 22 studies evaluating children's active school travel interventions in a North American setting (four Canada, 18 U.S.) were identified for the period between January 2010 and March 2017., Evidence Synthesis: Applying the Safe Routes to School Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, Engineering, Equity, and Evaluation ("6 E's") framework, interventions were thematically assessed for their structure and organization, approaches and methods, and outcomes and discussions. Encouragement and education were the most commonly observed themes within the different methodologies of the studies reviewed. Details relating to intervention approaches and methods were common; whereas data relating to intervention structure and organization received much less attention., Conclusions: Kingdon's multiple streams approach was applied to frame the findings for program facilitators and evaluators. Within the multiple streams approach, several considerations are offered to address and potentially improve active school travel intervention conceptualization, partnerships, organization, and evaluation., (Copyright © 2018 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To evaluate the uptake of ACT-i-Pass (G5AP), a physical activity (PA) intervention that provides free access to PA opportunities, and to understand the extent to which the intervention provides equitable access to children., Design: This study evaluates the differences in uptake (ie, enrollment) by comparing postal codes of registrants with the postal codes of all eligible children., Setting: Children were provided the opportunity to register for the G5AP during the 2014 to 2015 school year in London, Canada., Participants: The population of grade 5 students in London who registered for the G5AP (n = 1484) and did not register (n = 1589)., Intervention: The G5AP offered grade 5 students free access to select PA facilities/programs during 2014 to 2015 school year., Measures: Measures included G5AP registration status, method of recruitment, distance between home and the nearest facility, and neighborhood socioeconomic status., Analysis: Getis-Ord Gi* and multilevel logistic regression were used to analyze these data., Results: There were significant differences in the uptake of the G5AP: residing in neighborhoods of high income (odds ratio [OR] = 1.062, P = .029) and high proportion of recent immigrants (OR = 1.036, P = .001) increased the likelihood of G5AP registration. Children who were recruited actively were significantly more likely to register for the G5AP (OR = 2.444, P < .001)., Conclusion: To increase the uptake of a PA intervention, children need to be actively recruited. Interactive presentations provide children with increased access to information about both the program and its nuances that cannot be communicated as effectively through passive methods.

The purpose of this study was to test a conceptual model linking parental support and parental physical activity (PA), with children's perception of parental support and children's PA. Baseline data were drawn from the Grade 5 ACT-i-Pass community-based PA intervention conducted in London, Ontario between May and October 2014. Parent and child PA were measured using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire and Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children, respectively. Questions pertaining to parental support and children's perception of that parental support were obtained via questionnaires. We employed structural equation modeling techniques to test the conceptual model. In total, 467 boys and 469 girls were included in the study. The model provided an acceptable model fit. Child's perception of parental support for PA had a positive effect on boys' (b=0.319) and girls' (b=0.326) PA. Parental PA was not significantly related to child's perception of parental support for PA. However, parent reported support for PA had a significant, positive effect on child's perception of parental support for boys (b=0.352) and girls (b=0.584). In terms of the indirect effects, the effect of parental PA on child's PA was not statistically significant; however, as expected, parental support for PA had a statistically significant indirect effect on child PA level in both groups. The findings of this study demonstrate the importance of children's perceptions of parental support in relation to their PA behaviours. Developing a better understanding of factors related to children's PA and identifying determinants and mediators of activity behaviours will help inform PA interventions., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Neighbourhoods can facilitate or constrain moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among children by providing or restricting opportunities for MVPA. However, there is no consensus on how to define a child's neighbourhood. This study examines the influence of the neighbourhood built environment on objectively measured MVPA among 435 children (aged 9-14 years) in London (ON, Canada). As there is no consensus on how to delineate a child's neighbourhood, a geographic information system was used to generate measures of the neighbourhood built environment at two buffer sizes (500 m and 800 m) around each child's home. Linear regression models with robust standard errors (cluster) were used to analyze the relationship between built environment characteristics and average daily MVPA during non-school hours on weekdays. Sex-stratified models assessed sex-specific relationships. When accounting for individual and neighbourhood socio-demographic variables, park space and multi-use path space were found to influence children's MVPA. Sex-stratified models found significant associations between MVPA and park space, with the 800 m buffer best explaining boys' MVPA and the 500 m buffer best explaining girls' MVPA. Findings emphasize that, when designing built environments, programs, and policies to facilitate physical activity, it is important to consider that the size of the neighbourhood influencing a child's physical activity may differ according to sex.

Background: Physical activity during childhood is associated with a multitude of physical, behavioural, and psychological health benefits. Identification of effective population level strategies for increasing children's physical activity levels is critical for improving the overall health of Canadians. The overall objective of this study is to assess how a naturally-occurring, community-level intervention which offers Grade 5 children in London, Canada a free access pass to physical activity opportunities (facilities and programs) for an entire school year can lead to increased physical activity among recipients., Methods/design: This study adopts a longitudinal cohort study design to assess the effectiveness of improving children's access to physical activity opportunities for increasing their physical activity levels. To meet our overall objective we have three aims: (1) to assess whether the provision of free access increases children's physical activity levels during and after the intervention compared to a control group; (2) to assess how and why child-specific trajectories of physical activity (between-children differences in level of physical activity measured across time) in the intervention group differ according to children's individual and household characteristics; and (3) to explore additional factors that are unaccounted for in the theoretical model to gain a further understanding of why the free access intervention had varying effects on changing physical activity levels. We will be addressing these aims using a mixed methods approach, including: a series of youth surveys conducted before, during, immediately after, and 4-months after the intervention; parent surveys before, during, and post-intervention; real-time tracking of the access pass use during the intervention; and focus groups at the conclusion of the intervention. Data compiled from the youth surveys will provide a subjective measure of physical activity to be used as our outcome measure to address our primary aims., Discussion: The results of this study can inform policy- and decision-makers about the sub-groups of the population that benefitted the most (or least) from the intervention to provide more specific information on how to develop and target future interventions to have a greater impact on the physical activity levels and overall health of children.

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., (Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Although physical activity has been considered as an important modifiable risk factor for obesity, the empirical evidence on the relationship between physical activity and obesity is mixed. Observational studies in the public health literature fail to account for time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity and dynamics of weight, leading to biased estimation of the effect of physical activity on obesity. To overcome this limitation, we propose dynamic fixed-effects models to account for unobserved heterogeneity bias and the dynamics of obesity. We use nationally representative longitudinal data on the cohort of adults aged 18-50 years in 1994/95 from Canada's National Population Health Survey and followed them over 16 years. Obesity is measured by BMI (body mass index). After controlling for a wide range of socio-economic factors, the impact of four alternative measures of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and work-related physical activity (WRPA) are analyzed. The results show that each measure of LTPA exerts a negative effect on BMI and the effects are larger for females. Our key results show that participation in LTPA exceeding 1.5 kcal/kg per day (i.e., at least 30 min of walking) reduces BMI by about 0.11-0.14 points in males and 0.20 points in females relative to physically inactive counterparts. Compared to those who are inactive at workplace, being able to stand or walk at work is associated with a reduction in BMI in the range of 0.16-0.19 points in males and 0.24-0.28 points in females. Lifting loads at workplace is associated with a reduction in BMI by 0.2-0.3 points in males and 0.3-0.4 points in females relative to those who are reported sedentary. Policies aimed at promotion of LTPA combined with WRPA like walking or climbing stairs daily would help reduce adult obesity risks., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study assessed the amount of physical activity engaged in by youth aged 11-13, in relation to: (1) the presence of neighborhood recreational opportunities, objectively measured within a geographic information system; and (2) parents' perceptions of recreation opportunities in their neighborhoods. Students in grade 7 and 8 (n=811) in 21 elementary schools throughout London, Ontario completed the adapted Previous Day Physical Activity Recall and a questionnaire assessing environmental influences in the home and school neighborhoods. Parents/guardians of participants also completed a questionnaire eliciting demographic information and perceptions of the neighborhood environment. On average, students engaged in 159.9 min/day of physical activity. Both subjective and objective measures of recreational opportunities were associated positively with physical activity (p<0.05). Greater access to recreational opportunities seem essential to facilitate youths' healthy levels of physical activity.

Background: Walkability is a popular term used to describe aspects of the built and social environment that have important population-level impacts on physical activity, energy balance, and health. Although the term is widely used by researchers, practitioners, and the general public, and multiple operational definitions and walkability measurement tools exist, there are is no agreed-upon conceptual definition of walkability.Method: To address this gap, researchers from Memorial University of Newfoundland hosted "The Future of Walkability Measures Workshop" in association with researchers from the Canadian Urban Environmental Health Research Consortium (CANUE) in November 2017. During the workshop, trainees, researchers, and practitioners worked together in small groups to iteratively develop and reach consensus about a conceptual definition and name for walkability. The objective of this paper was to discuss and propose a conceptual definition of walkability and related concepts.Results: In discussions during the workshop, it became clear that the term walkability leads to a narrow conception of the environmental features associated with health as it inherently focuses on walking. As a result, we suggest that the term Active Living Environments, as has been previously proposed in the literature, are more appropriate. We define Active Living Environments (ALEs) as the emergent natural, built, and social properties of neighbourhoods that promote physical activity and health and allow for equitable access to health-enhancing resources.Conclusions: We believe that this broader conceptualization allows for a more comprehensive understanding of how built, natural, and social environments can contribute to improved health for all members of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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