Oral

Physical inactivity has adverse health, social, and economic consequences and has been associated with multiple types of disease, including heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. The environments in which children and adults live and work or attend school, serve as the major context for promoting physical activity and sedentary behavior. This session will examine how environmental characteristics of neighborhoods and communities may contribute to racial, ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in physical activity. In particular, it will discuss how local and federal transportation policies can build healthy, equitable and economically viable communities by improving street safety and increasing options for walking and bicycling. It will also examine how facility design at urban child care centers can provide opportunities for physical activity in preschoolers. This session will also discuss how perceptions of the neighborhood environments such as housing condition, safety of parks, and sidewalk quality may explain disparities in physical activity in multiethnic urban areas. The overall goal is to initiate a dialogue about how to inequities in physical activity can be addressed through an environmental justice approach.

Session Objectives: 1. List walking, bicycling, and transportation policies that have the potential to promote physical activity in urban areas. 2. Describe features of daycare facility design that offer opportunities for physical activity among preschoolers. 3. Discuss strategies to provide more equitable physical activity environments in multiethnic, urban settings.

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH)