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Introduction: Despite the known health benefits of biking, within the last year, 46% of college students reported not riding a bike. This trend indicates a need to explore interventions to increase bicycling. The purpose of this study was to examine how a free membership to a citywide bike share system, with a campus docking station, affected bicycling and physical activity. Method: Undergraduate students were recruited from a Midwest University to participate in this research study in spring 2018. Each participant wore an activity-tracking device for 3 weeks and was randomly assigned to either an intervention group (n = 29) or a control group (n = 27). Participants in the intervention group received a free 1-month membership to Kansas City's bike share system, B-cycle. Data on the type of activity (e.g., biking), the frequency, duration, and overall steps were collected. A pre- and posttest survey was developed and distributed to assess perceptions and use of bicycles and the bike share system. T tests were performed to identify differences between the two groups. Results: Data analyses reveal no significant differences in overall steps or increased biking behavior between the two groups. Furthermore, only two of participants who received a free bike share membership redeemed their membership. Among other barriers, risk of overage fees or not wanting to enter credit/debit card information emerged as major themes that deterred participants. Conclusions: Results from this study will inform future interventions to decrease barriers, increase physical activity, and increase the proportions of trips taken by bike among college students. More specifically, alternative payment methods should be explored to decrease the barriers observed.

Introduction: Physical activity (PA), particularly low-impact activities like bicycling, can improve health in older adults. However, bicycling rates are lower in the Midwest than other regions in the United States. Therefore, it is important to identify unique social, personal, and environmental factors that inhibit or promote bicycling, and how these are associated with PA. The influences of these factors were explored using the social ecological model. Method: A cross-sectional online survey was developed using previously validated local and national bicycling questionnaires, then distributed to Midwestern bicyclists 50 years and older. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to understand the influences of social, personal, and environmental barriers and promoters on bicycling patterns. All models were conducted separately by gender, and accounted for age, race, education, marital status, income, and employment. Results: Social promoters (B = 0.386, p = 0.002), such as having friends/family that bicycle were associated with greater PA. Personal promoters (B = -0.311, p = 0.006) such as needing to lose weight were associated with reduced PA. Environmental factors had no associations with PA. However, individual environmental components, such as number of vehicles on the roads, were significantly associated with PA for both males and females. Females reported more barriers than males. The overall model accounted for 16.1% of the total variance in PA levels. Conclusion: Interventions to promote PA via bicycling in older adults should focus on social factors, while also reducing personal-level factors for males. Interventions for females could focus on reducing specific personal, social, and environmental barriers.

Purpose: Physical inactivity among adolescents in the United States continues to be a pervasive and growing problem, especially among low income and adolescents of color. Physical literacy is important for adolescents to engage in physical activity. However, few studies have assessed physical literacy among marginalized populations. The purpose of this study is to describe levels of physical literacy among marginalized adolescents in a Midwest City. Methods: Data were collected from 169 participants (85 adolescents and 84 parents). Adolescents included in the study were from 4 Kansas City (Missouri) public schools. Univariate statistics were calculated for 3 physical literacy domains (PLAYinventory, PLAYself, and PLAYparent). To assess for differences among groups, the authors conducted a single-factor analysis of variance (1-way analysis of variance). Results: The sample (N = 169) was primarily Hispanic (48.2% adolescents and 42.9% parents). Sedentary behaviors were self-reported as the highest overall activities adolescents participated in within the past 12 months. The mean physical literacy score for this sample was 71.9 among adolescent reported and 72.7 among parent reported. Analysis of variance of racial and ethnic groups for PLAYself and PLAYparent assessments showed no significant difference in values. Compared with other subscales of both the PLAYparent and PLAYself instrument, parents and adolescents showed a lack of confidence in adolescent's ability to be active in the 4 environments (land, water, ice, and snow). Conclusion: Physical literacy is shown to be important in maintaining physical activity throughout life; given this, it is important to understand how to increase confidence of seasonal specific skills in marginalized adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigated students ' attitudes toward physical activity (PA) when including a required PA component in a university-required personal wellness class. The study included (a) an experimental group of students enrolled in a personal wellness course in which there was a required PA requirement and (b) a control group of students enrolled in a personal wellness course in which there was no PA requirement. Subjects were tested using the Corbin Attitude Test. The students in the experimental group were exposed to an additional PA requirement in which they were to exercise at least twice per week at a perceived exertion level of 4 or above on the modified 1 to 10 scale. Students in the control group were only required to complete the university-required personal wellness course, which did not include a required PA component. A repeated measures ANOVA was used to determine if adding the PA component had an effect on students ' attitudes and perceptions toward their personal health and to check for significance between gender and attitude toward physical activity. The analysis of the data showed no significant gain or decline in attitude for either group, suggesting that although specific required PA does not significantly improve attitude, it does not hurt it either. It could be surmised from this study and similar studies that choice of activity is the most important factor for improving attitude toward PA., 'Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body; it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity'--John F. Kennedy (LaLanne, 1995). Student [...]

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a weekly school-based fruit and vegetable delivery via a mobile market on urban middle schoolers' nutrition behaviors. Design: One-group, pretest-posttest design, quasi-experimental intervention in middle schoolers (6th-8th graders, N = 158) in Kansas City, MO Intervention: Weekly delivery of free produce via a mobile market over 12 weeks. Measures: A self-administered survey to assess self-report consumption of fruits, vegetables, soda, and sports drinks. Analysis: Univariate and bivariate analyses were used. Proportions were compared and chi-square tests were conducted to compare youth at baseline and 12 weeks. Results: More youth reported consuming fresh fruit (73.8% to 83.3%; χ2 = 7.76, P =.005) and vegetables (66.4% to 71.3%; χ2 = 13.55, P = <.001) from baseline to follow-up. Less youth reported soda (49.0% to 52.8%; χ2= 6.33, P =.012) and sports drinks (41.8% to 38.2%; χ2= 12.32, P <.001) from baseline to follow-up. Conclusions: A mobile produce delivery intervention, like the Healthy Harvest Mobile Market, may be an effective strategy to increase fruit and vegetable consumption for adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]