Context Matters: Systematic Observation of Place-Based Physical Activity

Abstract

Physical activity is place-based, and being able to assess the number of people and their characteristics in specific locations is important both for public health surveillance and for practitioners in their design of physical activity spaces and programs. Although physical activity measurement has improved recently, many investigators avoid or are at a loss regarding the assessment of physical activity in explicit locations, especially in open environments where many people come and go in a seemingly indiscriminate fashion. Direct, systematic observation exceeds other methods in simultaneously assessing physical activity and the contexts in which it occurs. This commentary summarizes the development and use of 2 validated observation tools: the System for Observing Play and Leisure in Youth (SOPLAY) and System for Observing Play and Active Recreation in Communities (SOPARC). Their use is well supported by both behavior-analytic principles and social-ecological theory, and their methods have utility for both researchers and practitioners.

Keywords::

• Measurement
• parks
• recreation
• schools

Acknowledgments

The substance of this commentary was embedded in my lecture, Understanding and Promoting Physical Activity: It Takes a Village, People! which was presented at the SHAPE America – The Society of Health and Physical Educators National Convention, in Minneapolis, MN, on April 6, 2016. Being selected as the 2016 Research Quarterly for Exercise and Science (RQES) Award Lecturer is both a tremendous honor and much of a surprise. I am a practitioner at heart, and during my early career, I was a public school physical education and health teacher, coach, and administrator. I had no skills or interest in doing research or writing. After four decades, I somehow ended up being an investigator on more than 15 nationally funded research projects and the author/coauthor of about 250 articles, 23 of them in RQES. I am especially grateful to Brent Rushall, Daryl Siedentop, and Jim Sallis for their mentorship, and I am indebted to countless collaborators, including the following principal investigators who have provided research support since 1985: G. X. Ayala, Bik Chow, Deborah Cohen, John Elder, Monica Lounsbery, Simon Marshall, Philip Nader, Jim Sallis, and Cindy Sit. I want to thank Hans van der Mars and Phillip Ward for their comments on an early draft of this article. Additional information on my research can be found at http://www.thomckenzie.com.