American journal of preventive medicine
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The capacity of public parks and recreation environments to promote physical activity for low-income communities of color is receiving increased attention from researchers and policymakers. As a result, several systems to measure park and recreation environments have been recently developed. Developing measures is important because they are critical to establishing key correlates and determinants that drive physical activity and inform intervention strategies. ⋯ One strategy for incorporating the perceptions is community-based participatory research. The rapid development of high-quality tools for measuring parks and recreation environments is encouraging. However, existing measures should be tested and refined in varying social-ecologic conditions, and new tools should be developed specifically for nuances associated with low-income minority communities.
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The National Institute of Mental Health convened a meeting in October 2005 to review the literature on obesity, nutrition, and physical activity among those with mental disorders. The findings of this meeting and subsequent update of the literature review are summarized here. Levels of obesity are higher in those with schizophrenia and depression, as is mortality from obesity-related conditions such as coronary heart disease. ⋯ The minimal research on weight-management programs for those with mental disorders indicates that meaningful changes in dietary intake and physical activity are possible. Physical activity is an important component of any weight-management program, particularly for those with depression, for which a substantial body of research indicates both mental and physical health benefits. Obesity among those with mental disorders has not received adequate research attention, and empirically-based interventions to address the increasing prevalence of obesity and risk of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in this population are lacking.