Accessing Minnesota School District Administrators' Knowledge and Perceptions Related to Sharing School Play Spaces After the Passage of Minnesota Shared Use Legislation.

Lower levels of physical activity among children in the United States can be attributed in part to the lack of access to safe, low-cost recreational facilities. Shared use, or a partnership allowing the community to use school recreational facilities outside of normal hours, has received increased attention. The objective of this study was to determine the extent of knowledge among school district decision makers about a law passed clarifying liability for school shared use in Minnesota and to understand perceptions held by school decision makers regarding shared use of recreational facilities.

A Scoping Review of Bikeability Assessment Methods.

Bicycling holds promise as a healthy and sustainable means of transportation and physical activity. Despite the growing interest in community-based environmental approaches to promoting physical activity, bikeability has received relatively little attention. This paper provides a scoping review of the instruments developed to measure bikeability along with practice-based analyses of the tools related to user expertise, estimated cost, and required time to implement.

Evaluation of free-floating bike-share on a university campus using a multi-method approach.

Bike-sharing, especially free-floating bike-share, has tremendous potential for increasing active transport on a college campus. Increased bike use improves public health, reduces pollution, and solves traffic congestion problems. Like other innovations, free-floating bikeshare proceeds through various stages while disseminated and before being widely adopted and accepted.

Using community-based methods to create a geospatial asset map of physical activity spaces in Pasadena, TX.

Sharing of physical activity spaces is supported by the American Heart Association and other leading public health authorities as one strategy to increase access to physical activity. The purpose of this study was to identify facilities within Pasadena, TX, that currently provide opportunities for active recreation, sport, and other forms of physical activity and analyze community access to these spaces from a geospatial perspective. Geospatial analysis was used to identify physical activity spaces and issues relevant to access.

Shared-Use Decisions Among Administrators of Physical Activity Facilities in Pasadena, TX.

. The American Heart Association recommends community-based research on shared use of physical activity (PA) spaces. Pasadena, a community in southeast Houston, Texas with lower socioeconomic status and racial/ethnic diversity, was the setting for our study.

Integrating research, legal technical assistance, and advocacy to inform shared use legislation in Mississippi.

Purpose: The purpose of this article was to describe the process by which research findings informed the successful passage of legislation designed to increase opportunities for physical activity in Mississippi, and discuss implications and lessons learned from this process.

Design And Setting: The article is descriptive and conceptual, and addresses the collaborative process by which research, legal technical assistance, and advocacy informed and shaped shared use legislation in Mississippi.

Subjects: Collaborators informing this article were an Active Living Research grantee, a staff attorney with the Public Health Law Center, the American Heart Association Mississippi Government Relations Director, and community partners.

Promoting physical activity through the shared use of school recreational spaces: a policy statement from the American Heart Association.

Most Americans are not sufficiently physically active, even though regular physical activity improves health and reduces the risk of many chronic diseases. Those living in rural, non-White, and lower-income communities often have insufficient access to places to be active, which can contribute to their lower level of physical activity. The shared use of school recreational facilities can provide safe and affordable places for communities.

Energy expenditure associated with the use of neighborhood parks in 2 cities.

Context: Availability of public neighborhood parks is associated with physical activity. Little is known about how parks contribute to population energy balance.

Purpose: This study estimated energy expenditure associated with the use of neighborhood parks and compared energy expenditure by activity areas within parks and by neighborhood race/ethnicity and income.

Scale development: perceived barriers to public use of school recreational facilities.

Objectives: To test an original scale assessing perceived barriers among school administrators to allowing community use of school recreational facilities outside of regular school hours.

Methods: Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

Results: Using EFA and CFA, we found that a model including factors of legal/security, resources, and social support demonstrated the best relative fit for our data.

Liability concerns and shared use of school recreational facilities in underserved communities.

Background: In underserved communities, schools can provide the physical structure and facilities for informal and formal recreation as well as after-school, weekend, and summer programming. The importance of community access to schools is acknowledged by authoritative groups; however, fear of liability is believed to be a key barrier to community access.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions of liability risk and associated issues among school administrators in underserved communities.

Correlates of park-based physical activity among children in diverse communities: results from an observational study in two cities.

Purpose: This study examined correlates of park-based physical activity (PA) among children in neighborhood parks.

Design: Direct observation was used to assess PA among children.

Setting: Public parks in Tampa, Florida (n=10), and Chicago, Illinois (n=18), from low income and high income and racially/ethnically diverse communities.

Policies to promote the community use of schools: a review of state recreational user statutes.

Context: Concern over liability is a barrier to allowing community use of school property for the purpose of engaging in active sport and recreational activities. Recreational user statutes have the potential to limit liability for public schools when use occurs outside of regular school hours, reduce the fear of liability among school administrators, and increase opportunities for access to school facilities for recreation and physical activity by community members. The purpose of this study was to examine the applicability of recreational user statutes to public schools when the use of school facilities for recreational purposes would occur outside of regular school hours.

Park-based physical activity in diverse communities of two U.S. cities. An observational study.

Background: Systematic study of human behavior in public parks and specific activity settings can inform policy to promote physical activity in diverse communities.

Methods: Direct observation was used to assess physical activity in public parks in Tampa FL (n=10) and Chicago IL (n=18). Parks were selected from census tracts with high concentrations of white, African-American, and Hispanic populations.

Schools as a community resource for physical activity: legal considerations for decision makers.

Public schools may offer community residents access to gymnasiums, playfields, etc. When school facilities are available and/or opened up for public use in this manner, what are the legal obligations and liability concerns that arise for the schools and the users? Joint- and shared-use facilities and lands have some legal protections, which this paper introduces and reviews. Legal cases (and precedent) are shared with readers.