ArticleJournal of environmental and public health2013
Does playground improvement increase physical activity among children? A quasi-experimental study of a natural experiment.
Article in Journal of environmental and public health, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Infrastructure, policy and regulatory interventions to increase physical activity to prevent cardiovascular diseases and diabetes: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2023Pooled it
- The Effectiveness of Interventions to Increase Participation and Physical Activities in Parks: A Systematic Review of the Literature.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- The Effects of Park-Based Interventions on Health-Related Outcomes Among Youth: A Systematic Review.American journal of health promotion : AJHP · 2022Pooled it
- Determining Factors in the Use of Urban Parks That Influence the Practice of Physical Activity in Children: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Systematic review of the correlates of outdoor play and time among children aged 3-12 years.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2021Pooled it
- The Impact of Schoolyard Greening on Children's Physical Activity and Socioemotional Health: A Systematic Review of Experimental Studies.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- The impacts of unstructured nature play on health in early childhood development: A systematic review.PloS one · 2020Pooled it
- Observational Park-based physical activity studies: A systematic review of the literature.Preventive medicine · 2016Pooled it
- Healthy urban environments for children and young people: A systematic review of intervention studies.Health & place · 2015Pooled it
- Impact of policy and built environment changes on obesity-related outcomes: a systematic review of naturally occurring experiments.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2015Pooled it
- The effect of dance mat exergaming systems on physical activity and health-related outcomes in secondary schools: results from a natural experiment.BMC public health · 2014Trial
- Physical Activity and Recreation for Kids Study (PARKS): Park-intensive community outreach for child physical activity group-randomized controlled trial.American journal of preventive medicine · 2026Article
- Urban park use and children's physical activity in Minneapolis-Saint Paul Minnesota: Parks and Recreation for Kids Study (PARKS).BMC pediatrics · 2026Observational
- The role of playgrounds in promoting children's health - a scoping review.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2024Article
- Does the Installation or the Improvement of Existing Outdoor Parks Increase Physical Activity Levels? A Systematic Review.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Navigating Neighbourhood Opposition and Climate Change: Feasibility and Acceptability of a Play Street Pilot in Sydney, Australia.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Associations between Park and Playground Availability and Proximity and Children's Physical Activity and Body Mass Index: The BEACH Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Did Playground Renovations Equitably Benefit Neighborhoods in Chicago?Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2021Article
- Does the Spatial Layout of a Playground Affect the Play Activities in Young Children? A Pilot Study.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Association of neighborhood parks with child health in the United States.Preventive medicine · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Outdoor recreational spaces have the potential to increase physical activity. This study used a quasi-experimental evaluation design to determine how a playground renovation impacts usage and physical activity of children and whether the visitations correlate with children's physical activity levels and parental impressions of the playground. Observational data and intercept interviews were collected simultaneously on park use and park-based activity among playground visitors at pre- and postrenovation at an intervention and a comparison park during three 2-hour periods each day over two weeks. No detectable difference in use between parks was observed at followup. In the intervention park, attendance increased among boys, but decreased among girls although this (nonsignificant) decline was less marked than in the comparison park. Following renovation, there was no detectable difference between parks in the number of children engaged in MVPA (interaction between park and time: P = 0.73). At the intervention park, there was a significant decline in girls engaging in MVPA at followup (P = 0.04). Usage was correlated with parental/carer perceptions of playground features but not with physical activity levels. Renovations have limited the potential to increase physical activity until factors influencing usage and physical activity behavior are better understood.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.