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ABSTRACT
This study aimed to identify typologies of park visitors and to examine associations among these typologies and socio-demographic characteristics. In 2013, intercept interviews were completed with 794 adult park visitors at two large parks located in Melbourne, Australia. Latent class analysis identified three classes of visitor: physically active visitor, with dog (12.4%); physically active visitor, with no dog (35.7%); and infrequent, low active, social visitor (51.9%). Respondents who were older and owned a dog had higher odds of being in Class 1 and Class 2. Respondents who had children had higher odds of being in Class 3. Respondents who reported poor health were less likely to be in Class 2 than in Class 3. Park users can be distinguished by the behaviors in which they engage. Understanding typologies of visitors will assist with the development of intervention strategies to optimize park visitation and park-based physical activity.
Funding
This project is funded by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LP120200396) and includes four partners: Parks Victoria, the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, Brimbank City Council and City West Water. JV is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council Early Career Fellowship (ID 1053426). JS and BGC are supported by National Health and Medical Research Council Principal Research Fellowships (IDs 1026216 and 100490 respectively). AT is supported by a Future Leader Fellowship from the National Heart Foundation of Australia (ID 100046).
