Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Parents’ Perceptions Of Their Children’S Physical Activity During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Emma Ostermeier, Patricia Tucker, Danielle Tobin, Andrew Clark, Jason Gilliland

Geography & Environment Publications

Background

COVID-19 has drastically changed the everyday lives of children, including limiting interactions with peers, loss of regularly organized activities, and closure of schools and recreational facilities. While COVID-19 protocols are in place to reduce viral transmission, they have affected children’s access to physical activity opportunities. The purpose of this study was to understand how COVID-19 has affected children’s engagement in physical activity and to identify strategies that can support children’s return to physical activity programming in public places.

Methods

Parents of past participants in the Grade 5 ACT-i-Pass Program in London, Ontario, Canada were invited to participate in a …

The Influence Of The Physical Environment And Sociodemographic Characteristics On Children's Mode Of Travel To And From School, Kristian Larsen, Jason Gilliland, Peter Hess, Patricia Tucker, Jennifer Irwin, Meizi He

Geography & Environment Publications

Objectives: We examined whether certain characteristics of the social and physical environment influence a child's mode of travel between home and school.

Methods: Students aged 11 to 13 years from 21 schools throughout London, Ontario, answered questions from a travel behavior survey. A geographic information system linked survey responses for 614 students who lived within 1 mile of school to data on social and physical characteristics of environments around the home and school. Logistic regression analysis was used to test the influence of environmental factors on mode of travel (motorized vs "active") to and from school.

Results: Over 62% of …

Environmental Equity Is Child's Play: Mapping Public Provision Of Recreation Opportunities In Urban Neighbourhoods, Jason Gilliland, Martin Holmes, Jennifer D. Irwin, Patricia Tucker

Geography & Environment Publications

This paper examines the spatial distribution of recreational opportunities for children and youth in a mid-sized Canadian city (London, Ontario), in relation to the socioeconomic status of neighbourhoods and estimated local need for publicly provided recreation spaces. Public recreation facilities (N = 537) throughout the city were identified, mapped and analysed in a geographic information system. To explore potential socio-environmental inequities, neighbourhoods (N = 22) were characterized by socioeconomic and environmental variables, an index of neighbourhood social distress, a neighbourhood play space needs index, and measures of the prevalence and density of recreational opportunities. The results of the …