Providing Safe Play Spaces Helps Inner-City Kids Be More Active

Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Also Included In: Sports Medicine / Fitness
Article Date: 31 Jul 2007 - 16:00 PST

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Giving inner-city children a safe place to play could dramatically increase their level of physical activity and even cut down on the time they spend watching television and playing video games.

Researchers opened a schoolyard and provided attendants to ensure children's safety. Over the next two years researchers observed the number and physical activity levels of children in the schoolyard and surrounding neighborhood and a comparison neighborhood. They found that after the schoolyard opened, the number of children who were outdoors and physically active was 84 percent higher in the intervention neighborhood than the comparison neighborhood. Surveys also showed that children in the intervention school spent less time watching television or movies or playing video games on weekdays than children in the comparison school.

"Overall, the results provide additional evidence that perceived lack of neighborhood safety may be an important determinant of physical activity in children and suggest that physical activity levels of low-income urban children may be increased through simple environmental interventions that provide safety," the study's authors said.

"A Pilot Study of an Environmental Intervention to Increase Physical Activity in Inner-City Children."
Thomas A. Farley, Tulane University School of Public Health, New Orleans, La.

The American Journal of Public Health is the monthly journal of the American Public Health Association (APHA), the oldest organization of public health professionals in the world. APHA is a leading publisher of books and periodicals promoting sound scientific standards, action programs and public policy to enhance health.

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