Minority Health and Health Equity Archive

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/21769

Welcome to the Minority Health and Health Equity Archive (MHHEA), an electronic archive for digital resource materials in the fields of minority health and health disparities research and policy. It is offered as a no-charge resource to the public, academic scholars and health science researchers interested in the elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities.

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Author: search.filters.author.Giles-Corti, BillieSubject: search.filters.subject.Research

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    Accessibility and connectivity in physical activity studies: The impact of missing pedestrian data
    (2008) Chin, Gary K.W.; Van Niel, Kimberly P.; Giles-Corti, Billie; Knuiman, Mathew
    Objective. One important characteristic in physical activity research into the built environment is network connectivity, usually calculated using street networks. However, a true pedestrian network may have very different connectivity than a street network. This study, conducted in 2004, examines the difference in walkability analyses when street networks versus pedestrian networks are used for four metropolitan suburbs in Perth, Western Australia. Methods. A street network of Perth was used to represent the current standard of data for walkability analyses. Aerial photography from 2003 was used to create a pedestrian network, which incorporated pedestrian footpaths into the street network. The street and pedestrian networks were compared using three measures of connectivity: Pedsheds, link node ratio and pedestrian route directness. Results. A comparison of the results using street versus pedestrian networks showed very different outcomes for conventional neighbourhood designs. Connectivity measures for conventional neighbourhoods improved up to 120% with the addition of pedestrian networks, although traditional neighbourhoods still had slightly better connectivity values overall. Conclusion. The true pedestrian network increases the connectivity of a neighbourhood and may have significant impact on these measures, especially in neighbourhoods with conventional street designs. It is critical that future studies incorporate pedestrian networks into their analyses.
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    The relationship between destination proximity, destination mix and physical activity behaviors
    (2008) McCormack, Gavin R.; Giles-Corti, Billie; Bulsara, Max
    Background. The presence and mix of destinations is an important aspect of the built environment that may encourage or discourage physical activity. This study examined the association between the proximity and mix of neighbourhood destinations and physical activity. Methods. Secondary analysis was undertaken on physical activity data from Western Australian adults (n=1394). These data were linked with geographical information systems (GIS) data including the presence and the mix of destinations located within 400 and 1500 m from respondents' homes. Associations with walking for transport and recreation and vigorous physical activity were examined. Results. Access to post boxes, bus stops, convenience stores, newsagencies, shopping malls, and transit stations within 400 m (OR 1.63–5.00) and schools, transit stations, newsagencies, convenience stores and shopping malls within 1500 m (OR 1.75–2.38) was associated with participation in regular transport-related walking. A dose–response relationship between the mix of destinations and walking for transport was also found. Each additional destination within 400 and 1500 m resulted in an additional 12 and 11 min/fortnight spent walking for transport, respectively. Conclusion. Proximity and mix of destinations appears strongly associated with walking for transport, but not walking for recreation or vigorous activity. Increasing the diversity of destinations may contribute to adults doing more transport-related walking and achieving recommended levels of physical activity.
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    Evaluation of the implementation of a state government community design policy aimed at increasing local walking: Design issues and baseline results from RESIDE, Perth Western Australia
    (2008) Giles-Corti, Billie; Knuiman, Matthew; Timperio, Anna; Van Niel, Kimberly; Pikora, Terri J.; Bull, Fiona C.L.; Shilton, Trevor; Bulsara, Max
    Objectives. To describe the design and baseline results of an evaluation of the Western Australian government's pedestrian-friendly subdivision design code (Liveable Neighborhood (LN) Guidelines). Methods. Baseline results (2003–2005) from a longitudinal study of people (n=1813) moving into new housing developments: 18 Liveable, 11 Hybrid and 45 Conventional (i.e., LDs, HDs and CDs respectively) are presented including usual recreational and transport related walking undertaken within and outside the neighborhood, and 7-day pedometer steps. Results. At baseline, more participants walked for recreation and transport within the neighborhood (52.6%; 36.1% respectively), than outside the neighborhood (17.7%; 13.2% respectively). Notably, only 20% of average total duration of walking (128.4 min/week (SD159.8)) was transport related and within the neighborhood. There were few differences between the groups' demographic, psychosocial and perceived neighborhood environmental characteristics, pedometer steps, or the type, amount and location of self-reported walking ( pN0.05). However, asked what factors influenced their choice of housing development, more participants moving into LDs reported aspects of their new neighborhood's walkability as important ( pb0.05). Conclusions. The baseline results underscore the desirability of incorporating behavior and context-specific measures and value of longitudinal designs to enable changes in behavior, attitudes, and urban form to be monitored, while adjusting for baseline residential location preferences.