Associations between objectively-measured and self-reported neighbourhood walkability on adherence and steps during an internet-delivered pedometer intervention

Abstract

Background Accumulating evidence suggests that the built environment is associated with physical activity. The extent to which the built environment may support adherence to physical activity interventions is unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the neighbourhood built environment constrains or facilitates adherence and steps taken during a 12-week internet-delivered pedometer-based physical activity intervention (UWALK). Method The study was undertaken in Calgary (Canada) between May 2016 and August 2017. Inactive adults (n = 573) completed a telephone survey measuring sociodemographic characteristics and perceived neighbourhood walkability. Following the survey, participants were mailed a pedometer and instructions for joining UWALK. Participants were asked to report their daily pedometer steps into the online program on a weekly basis for 12 weeks (84 days). Walk Score® estimated objective neighbourhood walkability and the Neighbourhood Environment Walkability Scale–Abbreviated (NEWS-A) measured participants self-reported neighbourhood walkability. Regression models estimated covariate-adjusted associations of objective and self-reported walkability with: 1) adherence to the UWALK intervention (count of days with steps reported and count of days with 10000 steps reported), and; 2) average daily pedometer steps. Results On average, participants undertook 8565 (SD = 3030) steps per day, reported steps on 67 (SD = 22.3) of the 84 days, and achieved ≥10000 steps on 22 (SD = 20.5) of the 84 days. Adjusting for covariates, a one-unit increase in self-reported walkability was associated on average with 45.76 (95CI 14.91, 76.61) more daily pedometer steps. Walk Score® was not significantly associated with steps. Neither objective nor self-reported walkability were significantly associated with the UWALK adherence outcomes. Conclusion The neighbourhood built environment may support pedometer-measured physical activity but may not influence adherence to pedometer interventions. Perceived walkability may be more important than objectively-measured walkability in supporting physical activity during pedometer interventions.

The association between the built environment and intervention-facilitated physical activity: a narrative systematic review

“…Studies were published between 2009 and 2021 (Table 2). Most studies (n = 16) recruited samples from populations with a known health risk, including metabolic disorders (e.g., diabetes risk, metabolic syndrome) [32,35], coronary heart disease risk factors [42], overweight or obesity [36], history of cancer [40], high blood pressure [51], and sedentary behaviour or physical inactivity [34,43,44,46,48] or a combination of risk factors [33,37,39]. Six studies included samples from general (non-clinical) populations [38,41,45,47,49,50].…”

“…Thirteen studies reviewed included multi-arm experiments [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44] and seven included single-arm experiments [45][46][47][48][49][50][51]. Among the multi-arm experiments, two [34,40] included a three-arm intervention design while the remainder employed a two-arm intervention design.…”

Relationship between physical activity and mental health in women after childbirth: a cross-sectional exploratory study

“…The daily mean number of steps walked by adults worldwide has been reported to be 5,000–8,000/day [ 41 – 44 ]. Among Japanese women (age range, 20–40 years), who walk a relatively greater number of steps than women in other countries, this value has been reported to be 6,755 steps, indicating that the number of steps walked by the participants in this study, who required time to nurse and rest, was slightly lower than the mean [ 44 , 45 ].…”

Change in GPS-assessed walking locations following a cluster-randomized controlled physical activity trial in older adults, results from the MIPARC trial

“…Wahl et al, 2013 ; Wan et al, 2013 ). Modifiable factors associated with life-space have been identified ( Kuspinar et al, 2020 ) and studies have examined how the walkability of environments can moderate the effectiveness of PA interventions ( Consoli et al, 2020 ; Kerr et al, 2010 ; Lo et al, 2019 ; Perez et al, 2018 ). However, no study has used validated GPS methods to investigate whether a PA intervention promoting neighborhood walking can increase walking in larger life-space domains.…”