ReviewThe home physical environment and its relationship with physical activity and sedentary behavior: A systematic review
Section snippets
Context
Regular physical activity has been associated with the prevention of at least 25 chronic diseases (Warburton et al., 2007). Despite these findings, physical activity (PA) remains low and consequently obesity and the comorbidities associated with low PA levels have increased (Shields et al., 2010, Tremblay et al., 2010). Researchers have identified several correlates of PA behavior which can be broadly defined into categories of: demographic, biological, intra-individual/psychological,
Eligibility criteria
Studies that were published in English peer-reviewed journals were considered for this review. The journal articles were considered eligible if they investigated: i) the presence of PA (e.g. treadmill) or SD (e.g. television) equipment, and ii) an outcome of PA or SD behavior.
Exclusion criteria
Studies were excluded if the setting was other than a family home (ie. nursing homes, schools, and recreation facilities); the authors wanted to examine a setting in which the individuals have the autonomy to manipulate
Evidence synthesis
The primary author and a research assistant performed two independent literature searches. The initial search yielded 3265 potentially relevant articles. After duplicates were removed (1187 articles), the remaining articles were filtered from the title and abstract by removing studies that did not fit the inclusion criteria such as non-home environment, or intervention which did not include correlates of physical home environment. This shortened the list to 96 articles to further evaluate. The
Quantity of SD equipment and SD time
Ten studies investigated the correlation between the quantity of media resources and total TV viewing/sedentary time (Adachi-Mejia et al., 2007, Barr-Anderson et al., 2008, Bauer et al., 2011, Dennison et al., 2002, Gorin et al., 2011, Hoyos Cillero and Jago, 2011, Roemmich et al., 2007, Salmon et al., 2013, Sirard et al., 2010, Van Zutphen et al., 2007). Of these, two conducted analysis with children (Bauer et al., 2011, Van Zutphen et al., 2007) and six conducted gender analysis (Adachi-Mejia
Discussion
The home environment can provide ease of access to a variety of equipment which could prompt both PA and SD activities. More importantly, we have the autonomy to modify the equipment in our homes and can essentially shape our own PA and SD behaviors. Hence, understanding how the characteristics of physical equipment in our homes predict our behaviors could provide insight on conducting pragmatic interventions. The purpose of the present review was to summarize and appraise the literature on how
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest in the research.
Acknowledgment
We would like to thank three anonymous reviewers for providing insightful and valuable suggestions to improve this paper. We would also like to thank Alison Quinlan for assisting us with the literature search. No funding was received for this systematic review. R.E. Rhodes is supported by a Canadian Cancer Society Senior Scientist Award and through funds from the Give to Live Foundation, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Cancer Society, and the Canadian
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Examining the state, quality and strength of the evidence in the research on built environments and physical activity among children and youth: An overview of reviews from high income countries
2022, Health and PlaceCitation Excerpt :Eleven reviews examined the association between home equipment/environment and PA. One was high quality (Lambert et al., 2019), one moderate (Prince et al., 2019), two low (Kaushal and Rhodes, 2014; Maitland et al., 2013), and seven critically low (Davison and Lawson, 2006; Ferreira et al., 2007; Lawman and Wilson, 2012; Marzi et al., 2018; Masoumi, 2017; Utley et al., 2016; Van Der Van Der Horst et al., 2007). Among children, there was very low certainty for no association between the home environment or equipment in the home and total PA.
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2022, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
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