Policy-makers' responses to neighborhood focus group outcomes on physical activity

Neighborhood environment and resources affect physical activity. This study examined the relationships between San Francisco residents' perceived barriers to physical activity and policy-maker perspectives of conditions in neighborhoods that are under-served for physical activity.

Nine focus groups comprised of primarily African American, Chinese American, and Latino populations were constructed from 6 low-income neighborhoods to respond to questions based on the social-ecological model about neighborhood recreational opportunities and to offer policy and intervention strategies to increase physical activity. A tenth focus group was conducted with staff members from 7 city departments to respond to neighborhood focus groups outcomes. The transcribed videotaped discussions were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

Both residents and policy-makers highlighted neighborhood disparities that reduce physical activity including unsafe and unhealthy environments and difficulty accessing available resources. Residents reported fewer available free or low-cost resources than those identified by policy-makers.

Findings suggest that policy-makers would benefit from consideration of neighborhood-level affects of policies on physical activity and local residents' recommendations for policies affecting physical activity. Concordance between residents' perceptions and policy-maker perceptions of neighborhood conditions for physical activity was greater than reported in previous literature.