Involving community stakeholders to increase park use and physical activity

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Community Engagement
• Urban Planning

Background:

• Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a valuable framework for addressing health disparities.
• Increasing park utilization and physical activity are key public health goals, particularly in diverse urban settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the implementation of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) using CBPR to boost park use and physical activity.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of different CBPR models (park director-led vs. park director and community board) in diverse Los Angeles neighborhoods.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial was conducted across 50 parks in 33 diverse Los Angeles neighborhoods.
• Parks were assigned to three groups: park director (PD) intervention, PD with park advisory board (PD+PAB) intervention, and control.
• Intervention groups engaged in community engagement, marketing training, and intervention design/implementation over five years (2007-2012).

Main Results:

• Intervention parks implemented strategies like enhanced signage, promotional activities, and support for group fitness programs.
• Scaling CBPR across diverse communities presented implementation challenges.
• Collaboration with park management and established community input structures facilitated the process.

Conclusions:

• CBPR approaches are effective for tailoring research and improving community impact and sustainability.
• Tradeoffs exist when scaling CBPR across diverse settings.
• Further research is needed to optimize multi-site CBPR trials in varied community contexts.