Study protocol for a natural experiment in a lower socioeconomic area to examine the health-related effects of refurbishment to parks including built-shade (ShadePlus)

Abstract

IntroductionParks in disadvantaged suburbs often have low quality and few amenities, which is likely to result in them being underutilised for recreation and physical activity. Refurbishment of parks, including shade, walking paths and other amenities, may have broad health-related benefits.Methods and analysisThe study design, methods and planned analyses for a natural experiment examining the effects of refurbishments including built-shade added to parks in disadvantaged outer suburbs of Melbourne are described. Three intervention parks and three comparison parks matched for equivalence of park and neighbourhood characteristics were selected. Using mixed methods, the outcomes will be assessed during three consecutive spring–summer periods (T1: 2013–2014; T2: 2014–2015: T3: 2015–2016). Primary outcomes included: observed park use, physical activity and shade use. Self-reported social connectedness, community engagement and psychological well-being were assessed as secondary outcomes.Ethics and disseminationThis study was approved by Cancer Council Victoria's Human Research Ethics Committee. Studies such as ShadePlus can improve understanding of the broader effects of park refurbishments (including physical activity levels and sun protection behaviours, as well as social connectedness and psychological well-being). The study findings will be disseminated through established urban planning and parks and recreation networks, peer review publications and conference presentations.

How Does the Urban Environment Affect Health and Well-Being? A Systematic Review

“…By using thirty intervention park neighborhoods and twenty control park neighborhoods, the study will investigate whether improvements in physical activity, park usage, psychosocial and mental health, and community well-being can be observed among residents in intervention versus control neighborhoods [26]. The same approach will be used in a study conducted in Melbourne, Australia, but is not described here in detail due to our exclusion criteria mentioned in the Methods section [57]. Since the two study protocols were published in 2016 and 2017, no results have been published so far.…”

Theoretical Approaches to Physical Activity Promotion

“…Leveraging opportunities to conduct research in the context of "natural experiments" (e.g., where changes to the physical environment are made to address new policy) may be a useful starting point. For example, Dobbinson et al (2017) discussed the impact of park refurbishments on park-based PA.…”

Are Environmental Interventions Targeting Skin Cancer Prevention among Children and Adolescents Effective? A Systematic Review

“…After screening of titles and abstracts, 45 articles were eligible for full-text screening. In the full-text phase, three authors were approached to retrieve more information upon deciding whether these articles were eligible for data abstraction, since follow-up data was not present [50][51][52]. The first authors of these studies were contacted to investigate whether data were available.…”

“…The first authors of these studies were contacted to investigate whether data were available. In one case, a study protocol described the methods for conducting a study in which effects of shaded areas in public parks was investigated from 2013 to 2016 [51]. The first author of this article mentioned that the data would be submitted on a short notice and that follow-up results were presented at two conferences.…”