Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Novel Spatio-Temporal Examination Of Children's Accessibility, Exposure, And Engagement To Parks And Recreation Spaces In Middlesex-London, Ontario, Malcolm K. Little

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Children are spending more free time engaged in activities indoors, rather than in outdoor environments such as parks and recreation spaces. Parks and recreation spaces provide amenities that promote physical, cognitive, and social health among children. As it relates to the complexities of children’s living situations, properly measuring children’s levels of interactions with these spaces is poorly understood in geography research.

By examining various attributes of children, this thesis improves on the measurement of children’s levels of interactions with parks and recreation spaces. Research herein utilized household survey data, a high-resolution GIS dataset of environmental factors, and GPS logs from …

Investigating Children's Experiences And Participation In A Free Community-Based Physical Activity Program: The Grade 5 Act-I-Pass, Emma E. Ostermeier

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Physical activity is an important component of children’s health and development; however, a majority of Canadian children are not meeting the physical activity recommendations. This thesis aimed to identify the factors that influenced children’s enrollment and participation in a free community-based physical activity program, the Grade 5 ACT-i-Pass (G5AP). This thesis consisted of two individual, but interrelated studies. First, focus groups with G5AP participants were used to explore the factors that influenced children’s perceived physical activity levels and participation in the program. Second, a spatially-targeted promotional campaign was developed and implemented to help evaluate the impact of promotions on program …

Equity Considerations In Active School Travel Interventions, Alina Medeiros

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Active school travel has benefits for children’s physical and mental health, academic achievement, and the environment. Underscoring active school travel is children’s independent mobility, defined as their ability to travel around their community without adult supervision. Interventions have shown some success in reversing declining trends in active school travel and independent mobility. However, little is known about how interventions have varying impacts on different subgroups of children. This thesis identifies ways to increase equity in active school travel interventions by investigating how equity is currently considered in interventions and gendered disparities in children’s ability to engage in independent mobility. This …

Examining The Environmental Influences On Physical Activity Among Children In Rural Northern Ontario, Brenton L G Button

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Low levels of physical activity (PA) among children in Canada have been a primary health concern over the last decade. Higher levels of PA are associated with numerous social, physical, and mental health benefits, and research has also shown that different social, built, and natural elements of local environments are associated with varying levels of PA. Despite growing evidence around the connection between a child’s environment and PA, little research has examined the influence of the environment on the PA of rural Canadian children.

Broadly based on the ecological systems theory, this dissertation used data from the Spatial Temporal Environment …