Details

Purpose: To describe partnerships with local parks and recreation (P&R) organizations to promote physical activity in youth ages 4-18 years.

Rationale: Worldwide few youth meet physical activity guidelines, indicating a need for strategies to promote youth physical activity. P&R organizations are found in every community and play an important role in promoting population health by increasing access to and opportunities for physical activity. Furthermore, these community resources are often free to access or offer programming at a low cost, providing an opportunity to reduce disparities. This makes P&R organizations uniquely situated to promote physical activity within their communities.

Objectives: Following this symposium, participants should be able to: 1) outline the role that P&R organizations play in promoting physical activity in communities, 2) understand different avenues to promote youth physical activity in P&R settings and 3) identify opportunities to collaborate with their local P&R organizations.

Summary: This symposium will describe several interventions where research teams have collaborated with local P&R departments to deliver youth physical activity programs. First, the chair will provide an overview of the importance of P&R settings for physical activity promotion. The first presenters will present findings of a physical activity and fundamental movement skills intervention for children (4-7y) that was co-designed with Sports Singapore and adapted for online delivery. Next, the second presenter will discuss the results of a randomized trial that featured a clinic-community intervention where a pediatric weight management program partnered with a local P&R organization to deliver a physical activity and fitness program for youth (5-17y) in the US. The third presenter will describe a novel park-based active transportation intervention that aimed to promote physical activity and access to parks and health promoting spaces for adolescents (12-18y) in the US. Finally, the discussant will address contextual considerations for engaging with local P&R organizations to develop physical activity programming for youth.

Format: Dr. Cody Neshteruk will provide the introduction (5-minutes), then the individual presenters (Dr. Elaine Chew Chu Shan and Ms. Khairunisa Khaider, Dr. Neshteruk, and Dr. Emily D’Agostino) will each present their findings (15-minutes/presentation). Dr. Asheley Skinner (discussant) will provide a summary (5-minutes) and facilitate discussion among the panel and session participants (20-minutes).

Interaction: We will promote interaction with the online symposium by: 1) asking participants to submit questions in the chat and 2) utilizing questions/polls throughout the session using Poll Everywhere.

Speaker