When cities move children: development of a new methodology to assess context-specific physical activity behaviour among children and adolescents using accelerometers and GPS

Charlotte Demant Klinker; Jasper Schipperijn; Mette Toftager; Jacqueline Kerr; Jens Troelsen

doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.11.006

When cities move children: development of a new methodology to assess context-specific physical activity behaviour among children and adolescents using accelerometers and GPS

Health Place. 2015 Jan:31:90-9. doi: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.11.006. Epub 2014 Dec 2.

Authors

Charlotte Demant Klinker¹, Jasper Schipperijn², Mette Toftager², Jacqueline Kerr³, Jens Troelsen²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark; Centre for Intervention Research in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Øster Farimagsgade 5a, 1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark. Electronic address: chkl@ucc.dk.
² Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark; Centre for Intervention Research in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Øster Farimagsgade 5a, 1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
³ Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.

PMID: 25463922
DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2014.11.006

Abstract

This study presents a novel method to assess context-specific physical activity patterns using accelerometer and GPS. The method efficiency is investigated by providing descriptive results on the use of domains and subdomains, and assessing how much of children's and adolescents' daily activity time can be classified by these domains and subdomains. Four domains and 11 subdomains were defined as important contexts for child and adolescent behaviour. During weekdays (n=367) and weekend days (n=178) the majority of children and adolescents spent time in active transport, urban green space, clubs and sports facilities. Satisfactory method efficiency was found during weekdays. Natural experiments combined with objective assessment of context-specific behaviours hold the potential to create evidence on the effects of changes to the built environment on behaviour.

Keywords: Accelerometer; Built environment; Children; Global positioning systems (GPS); Physical activity.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Accelerometry*
Adolescent
Child
Cities*
Denmark
Environment
Exercise*
Female
Geographic Information Systems*
Humans
Male
Surveys and Questionnaires