Environmental Influences on Physical Activity among Rural Adults in Montana, United States: Views from Built Environment Audits, Resident Focus Groups, and Key Informant Interviews

Brian K. Lo, Emily H. Morgan, Sara C. Folta, Meredith L. Graham, Lynn C. Paul, Miriam E. Nelson, Nicolette V. Jew, Laurel F. Moffat and Rebecca A. Seguin
Additional contact information
Brian K. Lo: Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Emily H. Morgan: Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Sara C. Folta: Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston, MA 02111, USA
Meredith L. Graham: Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Lynn C. Paul: College of Education, Health and Human Development, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717, USA
Miriam E. Nelson: Sustainability Institute, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824, USA
Nicolette V. Jew: Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Laurel F. Moffat: Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Rebecca A. Seguin: Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA

IJERPH, 2017, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-13

Abstract: Rural populations in the United States have lower physical activity levels and are at a higher risk of being overweight and suffering from obesity than their urban counterparts. This paper aimed to understand the environmental factors that influence physical activity among rural adults in Montana. Eight built environment audits, 15 resident focus groups, and 24 key informant interviews were conducted between August and December 2014. Themes were triangulated and summarized into five categories of environmental factors: built, social, organizational, policy, and natural environments. Although the existence of active living features was documented by environmental audits, residents and key informants agreed that additional indoor recreation facilities and more well-maintained and conveniently located options were needed. Residents and key informants also agreed on the importance of age-specific, well-promoted, and structured physical activity programs, offered in socially supportive environments, as facilitators to physical activity. Key informants, however, noted that funding constraints and limited political will were barriers to developing these opportunities. Since building new recreational facilities and structures to support active transportation pose resource challenges, especially for rural communities, our results suggest that enhancing existing features, making small improvements, and involving stakeholders in the city planning process would be more fruitful to build momentum towards larger changes.

Keywords: physical activity; rural health; triangulation; mixed methods; built environment; obesity; prevention (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/10/1173/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/14/10/1173/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:14:y:2017:i:10:p:1173-:d:114080

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().