Perceptions of Important Characteristics of Physical Activity Facilities: Implications for Engagement in Walking, Moderate and Vigorous Physical Activity.

BACKGROUND: Although few United States adults meet physical activity recommendations, those that do are more likely to access to physical activity facilities. Additionally, vigorous exercisers may be more likely to utilize a nearby physical activity facility, while light-to-moderate exercisers are less likely to do so. However, it is unclear what characteristics of those facilities are most important as well as how those characteristics are related to activity intensity. PURPOSE: This study examined relationships between self-reported leisure-time physical activities and the use of and perceived characteristics of physical activity facilities. METHODS: Data were from a cross-sectional study in a major metropolitan area. Participants (N = 582; ages 18-74, mean age = 45 ± 14.7 years) were more likely to be female (69.9%), Caucasian (65.6%), married (51.7%), and have some college education (72.8%). Household surveys queried leisure-time physical activity, regular physical activity facility use, and importance ratings for key facility characteristics. RESULTS: Leisure-time physical activity recommendations were met by 41.0% of participants and 50.9% regularly used a physical activity facility. Regular facility use was positively associated with meeting walking (p = 0.036), moderate (p < 0.001), and vigorous (p < 0.001) recommendations. Vigorous exercisers were more likely to use a gym/fitness center (p = 0.006) and to place higher importance on facility quality (p = 0.022), variety of physical activity options offered (p = 0.003), and availability of special equipment and resources (p = 0.01). The facility characteristics of low or free cost (p = 0.02) and offering childcare (p = 0.028) were barriers for walking, and being where friends and family like to go were barriers for moderate leisure-time physical activity (p = 0.013). CONCLUSION: Findings offer insights for structuring interventions using the social ecological model as well as for improving existing physical activity facilities.

Neighborhood environment perceptions and the likelihood of smoking and alcohol use.

Neighborhood characteristics are important correlates for a variety of health outcomes. Among several health risk behaviors, smoking and alcohol use have significant consequences. Perceptions of neighborhood problems are associated with depressive symptoms, lower physical activity, and lower quality of life. However, it is unclear which perceived aspects of neighborhoods might be related to smoking and drinking. We examined whether perceived neighborhood characteristics were associated with smoking and drinking patterns using data from US metropolitan Midwestern area adults. Participants completed surveys including sociodemographic characteristics, neighborhood perceptions, behavioral and psychological health. For men, negative perceptions of neighborhood infrastructures were significant predictors for smoking and binge drinking. Among women, no perceived environmental factors were associated with smoking or drinking. However, education was a significant negative predictor for smoking. As age increased, the likelihood of using cigarettes, heavy and binge drinking in women decreased significantly. Depression was a positive predictor for smoking and heavy drinking in men and women, respectively. These findings indicate that the perceived neighborhood infrastructure was predictive of health behaviors among men, even after adjusting for key confounders. Closer attention may need to be paid to the role of neighborhood environmental characteristics along with individual-level characteristics in influencing unhealthy behaviors.

A content analysis of tobacco control policy in the U.S. Department of Defense.

We conducted a content analysis of the US military tobacco policies at the Department of Defense, each respective military service (Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps), and their Major Commands (MAJCOM). Ninety-seven policies were evaluated using the Military Tobacco Policy Rating Form (MTPRF). More than three quarters addressed the following domains: (1) deleterious health effects of tobacco use; (2) environmental tobacco smoke; (3) designation of smoking areas; (4) tobacco prevention/cessation programs; and (5) smokeless tobacco. Few policies (2.1 per cent) mentioned relevant Department of Defense and respective service tobacco use prevalence statistics. Smoking as non-normative or incompatible with military service, the impact of tobacco use on military readiness, and the tobacco industry were addressed infrequently (6.2 per cent, 33.0 per cent, and 8.2 per cent, respectively). Future military tobacco policies should address important omissions of critical information such as the current service tobacco use prevalence, effects on readiness, and smoking as non-normative.

Military line leadership and tobacco control: perspectives of military policy leaders and tobacco control managers.

Despite progress in policy changes, tobacco use rates are still high in the military. Little is known about the views of those who create and implement tobacco control policies within the Department of Defense. These individuals determine what policy initiatives will be developed, prioritized, and implemented. We conducted key informant interviews with 16 service-level policy leaders (PLs) and 36 installation-level tobacco control managers (TCMs). PLs and TCMs believed that line leadership view tobacco control as a low priority that has minimal impact on successful mission completion. They also identified cultural factors that perpetuate tobacco use, such as low cost and easy accessibility to tobacco, smoke breaks, and uneven or unknown enforcement of current tobacco policies.

The Census of Social Institutions (CSI): a public health direct observation measure of local land use.

This manuscript describes the development of the Census of Social Institutions (CSI), a reliable direct observation parcel-level built environment measure. The CSI was used to measure all non-residential parcels (n = 10,842) in 21 one-mile-radius neighborhoods centered around census block groups of varying income and ethnicity in a large metropolitan area. One year test-retest and inter-rater intra-class correlations showed high reliability for major use type and detail code observations. The CSI accurately captured the presence of about 9,500 uses, including 828 multiple major use and 431 mixed major use parcels that would have been missed in standard commercial databases. CSI data can be utilized to determine the health impacts of environmental settings.

A qualitative analysis of the tobacco control climate in the U.S. military.

INTRODUCTION: Rates of tobacco use in the U.S. military have traditionally been higher than in the general U.S. population. While the military has experienced decreases in tobacco use over the past two decades, recent surveys suggest a trend of increased use. Given the negative impact of tobacco on both the readiness and the long-term health of military members, it is important to understand what factors may be related to the increased use rates. It has been suggested that there is a culture that supports tobacco use in the military. METHODS: We examined perceptions about the climate of tobacco control among military installation Tobacco Control Managers and Service Policy Leaders from all four branches of the military (n = 52) using semistructured interviews. RESULTS: The primary strength of the military's tobacco control program, according to the participants, was mandating the provision of treatment services on every military installation. Any military member can receive both counseling and pharmacotherapy for tobacco. Opinions vary on the most promising new strategies for tobacco control. Many have pushed for a completely tobacco-free Department of Defense, including requiring troops to be tobacco-free and banning tobacco sales on military installations. However, a number of tobacco control experts within the military worry about unintended consequences of a complete ban. DISCUSSION: While several benefits of the current tobacco control program were identified, opportunities for improvement were identified at both the installation and service level.

Power and public participation in a hazardous waste dispute: a community case study.

Qualitative case study findings are presented. We examined whether public participation in a hazardous waste dispute manifested in ways consistent with theories of social power; particularly whether participatory processes or participants' experiences of them were consistent with the three-dimensional view of power (Gaventa, Power and powerlessness: quiescence and rebellion in an appalacian valley, 1980; Lukes, Power: A radical view, 1974; Parenti, Power and the powerless, 1978). Findings from four data sources collected over 3 years revealed that participatory processes manifested in ways consistent with theories of power, and participants' experiences reflected this. Results illustrated how participation was limited and how citizen influence could be manipulated via control of resources, barriers to participation, agenda setting, and shaping conceptions about what participation was possible. Implications for community research and policy related to participation in hazardous waste disputes are discussed.

Empowerment and sense of community: clarifying their relationship in community organizations.

The research reported here tested the factor structure of a measure for sense of community in community organizations, and it evaluated sense of community's potential as an empowering organizational characteristic within an organizational empowerment framework. Randomly selected community organization participants (N=561) were surveyed as part of a study of a substance abuse prevention initiative located in the northeastern United States. Confirmatory factor analysis verified the putative structure of the sense of community measure tailored to community organizations. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that community organization sense of community significantly predicted intrapersonal empowerment after controlling for demographics, participation, alienation, and other empowering organizational characteristic. Findings imply that organizational sense of community should be considered as an empowering organizational characteristic in community-based health education.

Measuring the intrapersonal component of psychological empowerment: confirmatory factor analysis of the sociopolitical control scale.

The Sociopolitical Control Scale (SPCS) is a widely used measure of the intrapersonal component of psychological empowerment. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were conducted with data from two samples to test the hypothesized structure of the SPCS, the potential effects of method bias on the measure's psychometric properties, and whether a revised version of the scale (SPCS-R) yielded improved model fit. Sample 1 included 316 randomly selected community residents of the Midwestern United States. Sample 2 included 750 community residents of the Northeastern U.S. Results indicated that method bias from the use of negatively worded items had a significant effect on the factor structure of the SPCS. CFA of the SPCS-R, in which negatively worded items were rephrased so that all statements were positively worded, supported the measure's hypothesized two-factor structure (i.e., leadership competence and policy control). Subscales of the SPCS-R were found reliable and related in expected ways with measures of community involvement. Implications of the study for empowerment-based research and practice are described, and strategies to further develop the SPCS are discussed.

School climate and adolescent drug use: mediating effects of violence victimization in the urban high school context.

This study tested the mediating effects of violence victimization in the relationship between school climate and adolescent drug use. The hypothesized path model fit data collected from a probability sample of urban high school students (N=586) participating in an evaluation of a violence prevention program funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Findings indicated that the lack of enforcement of school rules and the presence of unsafe places in and around the school influenced adolescent drug use directly and indirectly through their effects on violence victimization.Editors' Strategic Implications: This research confirms the importance of the environment as a contributor to violence victimization. Violence victimization is obviously of concern in its own right, but in addition, these data indicate that it also contributes to adolescent drug use. School administrators should be aware that unsafe places in schools and the failure to enforce school rules may affect such victimization and drug use.

Tobacco outlet density and demographics at the tract level of analysis in Iowa: implications for environmentally based prevention initiatives.

This study assessed the geographic association between tobacco outlet density and three demographic correlates-income, race, and ethnicity-at the tract level of analysis for one county in the Midwestern United States. Data for residential census tracts in a Midwestern U.S. county were derived from year 2003 licenses for 474 tobacco outlets. Demographic variables were based on 2000 census data. Census tracts with lower median household income, higher percent of African American residents, and higher percent of Latinos residents had greater density of tobacco selling retail outlets. Areas characterized by lower income and disproportionately more African Americans and Latinos have greater physical access to tobacco products. Physical access to tobacco is a critical public-health issue because, given that smokers have been shown to be price sensitive, lowering access costs (e.g., reduced travel time) is likely to increase consumption. Findings also suggest the need for structural or environmental interventions, i.e., tobacco outlet zoning laws, to mitigate the health consequences associated with tobacco use in certain populations and geographic regions.

Social cohesion and intrapersonal empowerment: gender as moderator.

Health educators have embraced empowerment as an alternative to traditional frameworks that place greater emphasis on individual health behaviors than socio-political factors that promote or constrain life-style choices. A critical element of empowerment theory for health educators is the participatory process in which people might engage to improve quality of life. As a piece of participatory process, social cohesion is an emerging construct that links community participation with notions of trust, shared emotional commitment and reciprocity. This study builds on prior research by exploring whether gender interacts with social cohesion to predict intrapersonal empowerment. Data were collected from interviews with randomly selected community residents. Extending previous studies, the findings showed that the effects of social cohesion on intrapersonal empowerment were different for females and males. Implications for community interventions and directions for future research are discussed.

Generalizing the alcohol outlet-assaultive violence link: evidence from a U.S. midwestern city.

This study assessed the geographic association between rates of assaultive violence and alcohol-outlet density in Kansas City, Missouri. Data were obtained for sociodemographic factors, alcohol-outlet density, and rates of assaultive violence across 89 inner-city census tracts in Kansas City, Missouri. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that sociodemographic variables predicted 61% (R2 = 0.61) of the variance in assaultive violence, but that an additional 9% (R2 = 0.09) of the variability in assaultive violence was explained by the density of alcohol outlets. Alcohol-outlet density contributed significantly to the explained variance of the regression model and was associated with higher rates of assaultive violence in this midwestern city.

16PF-E Structure using Radial Parcels Versus Items.

The Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) was factored with the use of groups of items called radial parcels and was subsequently compared with an item factoring of the same data. This was done in order to verify the 16PF (Form E) primary factors and to investigate the use of radial parcels in that process. Ss were 449 physically or mentally handicapped men and women who were part of a rehabilitation counseling process. Results indicated that with some familiar exceptions factor identification and verification were complete. Moreover, the use of radial parcels maintained the dimensionality found in the items. Also, rotation toward simple structure proceeded more rapidly with parcels than with items.