Public Health

Neighbourhood Types, Travel and Body Mass: A Study of New Urbanist and Suburban Neighbourhoods in the US

Brown, AL
Khattak, AJ
Rodriguez, DA
2008

Using an ecological framework, this paper examines the body mass index (BMI), physical activity and travel behaviour of household heads in a US new urbanist neighbourhood relative to household heads of comparable conventional suburban US neighbourhoods. Using a quasi-experimental design, a new urbanist neighbourhood and five conventional suburban neighbourhoods were matched on age of development, assessed property values and regional accessibility. Self-reported height, weight, physical activity and travel behaviours were obtained from the household heads in each neighbourhood type....

往返學校的積極交通措施的比較案例研究

Fesperman, CE
MRP, KRE
Rodriguez, DA
Salvesen, D
2008

本研究透過設計社區活動模型積極生活（Active Living by Design Community Action Model）框架調查了積極到校交通措施。框架概述了影響身體活動的五個策略：準備、宣傳、計劃、政策和身體活動專案。

Factors Influencing Implementation of Local Policies to Promote Physical Activity: A Case Study of Montgomery County, Maryland

Salvesen, D
Evenson, KR
Rodriguez, DA
Brown, A
2008

Policy interventions such as zoning ordinances, school facility siting guidelines, capital improvement programs, and park master plans hold particular promise for promoting physical activity, especially at the local level. Despite increasing attention to the relationship between built environment characteristics and physical activity, there is a paucity of research on the extent to which local policies can promote or hinder physical activity. Furthermore, the impact of local policies on physical activity should depend on how effectively the policies are implemented. Based on the...

The Sociodemographics of Land Use Planning: Relationships to Physical Activity, Accessibility, and Equity

Aytur, SA
Rodriguez, DA
Evenson, KR
Catellier, DJ
Rosamond, WD
2008

Little is known about relationships between attributes of land use plans and sociodemographic variations in physical activity (PA). This study evaluates associations between policy-relevant plan attributes, sociodemographic factors, and PA in North Carolina. Results suggest that land use plans that included non-automobile transportation improvements and more comprehensive policies to guide development were positively associated with both leisure and transportation-related PA. However, residents of counties with lower-income levels and higher proportions of non-white residents were...

Involvement of Park and Recreation Professionals in Pedestrian Plans

Evenson, KR
Aytur, SA
Rodriguez, DA
Salveson, D
2009

Professionals from many different disciplines are finding innovative ways to work together to increase physical activity to help create healthier communities. One process that can provide a focal point for promoting physical activity by park and recreation professionals, land use and transportation planners, public health practitioners, and other stakeholders is the development and implementation of pedestrian plans. A pedestrian plan is a public document that lays out a community’s vision for future pedestrian activity, identifies the actions required to realize that vision, ties...

Assessing Urban and Rural Neighborhood Characteristics Using Audit and GIS Data: Derivation and Reliability of Constructs

Evenson, KR
Sotres-Alvarez, D
Herring, AH
Messer, L
Laraia, BA
Rodriguez, D
2009

Measures to assess neighborhood environments are needed to better understand the salient features that may enhance outdoor physical activities, such as walking and bicycling for transport or leisure. The purpose of this study was to derive constructs to describe neighborhoods using both primary (neighborhood audit) and secondary (geographic information systems) data. We collected detailed information on 10,770 road segments using an audit and secondary data. The road segment sample was randomly split into an exploratory (60%) and validation sample (40%) for...

Validation of Most Probable Number Technique for Determination of Salmonella Typhimurium in Compost, According to EPA 1682/06.

Moncada, A
Soler, A
Fernández, K
Rodriguez, D
Carrascal, CAK
Martinez, M
2011

To validate the Most Probable Number technique (MPN) according to the method EPA1682/06 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in compost and chicken manure, these matrices were inoculated with Salmonella Typhimurium ATCC#14028, defining a double blinded study. In order to include all parameters established for a validation process, 504 samples were used: 252 compost samples and 252 chicken manure samples. The detection limit was 0.8 cells/g for compost and 2 cells/g for chicken manure. In addition, the critical level was 5 UFC/g and the correlation between the...

A Spatial Analysis of Health-Related Resources in Three Diverse Metropolitan Areas

Smiley, MJ
Roux, AV Diez
Brines, SJ
Brown, DG
Evenson, KR
Rodriguez, DA
2010

Few studies have investigated the spatial clustering of multiple health-related resources. We constructed 0.5 mile kernel densities of resources for census areas in New York City, NY (n=819 block groups), Baltimore, MD (n=737), and Winston-Salem, NC (n=169). Three of the four resource densities (supermarkets/produce stores, retail areas, and recreational facilities) tended to be correlated with each other, whereas park density was less consistently and sometimes negatively correlated with others. Blacks were more...

Travel Behavior, Residential Preference, and Urban Design: A Multi-Disciplinary National Analysis

Greene, J
Larco, N
Yang, Y
Schlossberg, M
Rodriguez, D
McDonald, N
2011

This report summarizes the findings of a national project to examine the travel behavior, social capital, health, and lifestyle preferences of residents of neotraditional developments (NTD) compared to more standard suburban developments. We compare survey results from residents of matched pairs of neighborhoods in seventeen U.S. cities and towns, with each pair comprised of one NTD and one typical suburban neighborhood of similar size, age, and socio-demographic composition. The study addresses salient themes in the transportation, planning and health literatures: a national study,...

A Systematic Review of Fast Food Access Studies

Fleischhacker, SE
Evenson, KR
Rodriguez, DA
Ammerman, AS
2011

The frequent consumption of energy-dense fast food is associated with increased body mass index. This systematic review aims to examine the methodology and current evidence on fast food access and its associations with outcomes. Six databases were searched using terms relating to fast food. Only peer-reviewed studies published in English during a 10-year period, with data collection and analysis regarding fast food access were included. Forty articles met the aforementioned criteria. Nearly half of the studies (n = 16) used their own set of features to define fast food....