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Contextual and environmental factors that influence health: A within-subjects field experiment protocol

BACKGROUND: Despite the growing research on environment-physical activity (PA) relationships, field experimental studies are limited. Such studies offer opportunities to focus on real-world environmental exposure and related PA and health outcomes, allowing researchers to better isolate the causal e...

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Autores principales: Li, Dongying, Lee, Chanam, Park, Amaryllis H., Lee, Hanwool, Ding, Yizhen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9978705/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36875421
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1019885
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author Li, Dongying
Lee, Chanam
Park, Amaryllis H.
Lee, Hanwool
Ding, Yizhen
author_facet Li, Dongying
Lee, Chanam
Park, Amaryllis H.
Lee, Hanwool
Ding, Yizhen
author_sort Li, Dongying
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Despite the growing research on environment-physical activity (PA) relationships, field experimental studies are limited. Such studies offer opportunities to focus on real-world environmental exposure and related PA and health outcomes, allowing researchers to better isolate the causal effect of exposures/interventions. Focusing on the street/pedestrian environment as a routine setting for people's daily activities, this research aims to develop and test a field experiment protocol that integrates instantaneous assessments of the environment, PA, and health outcomes. The protocol involves the use of state-of-the-art environmental monitoring and biosensing techniques and focuses on physically active road users (pedestrians and bicyclists) who are more directly exposed to their surrounding environment than others such as drivers. METHODS/DESIGN: An interdisciplinary research team first identified the target measurement domains for the health outcomes (e.g., stress, thermal comfort, PA) and the street-level environmental exposures (e.g., land use, greenery, infrastructure conditions, air quality, weather) guided by the previous literature which was primarily observational. Portable or wearable measurement instruments (e.g., GPS, accelerometer, biosensor, mini camera, smartphone app, weather station, air quality sensor) were identified, pilot tested, and selected for the identified measures. We ensured that these measures are readily linkable using the time stamp and include eye-level exposures as they impact the users' experiences more directly yet missing in most prior studies relying on secondary, aerial-level measures. A 50-min experimental route was then determined to include typical everyday environments in park and mixed-use settings and to engage participants in three common modes of transportation (walking, bicycling, and driving). Finally, a detailed staff protocol was developed, pilot-tested, and used in a 36-participant within-subject field experiment in College Station, TX. The experiment was successfully executed, showing its potential to support future field experiments that can provide more accurate real-time, real-environment, and multi-dimensional information. DISCUSSION: Our study demonstrates the feasibility of capturing the multifold health benefits/harms related to walking and bicycling in varying urban environments by combining field experiments with environmental, behavioral, and physiological sensing. Our study protocol and reflections can be helpful for a broad spectrum of research addressing the complex and multi-level pathways between the environment, behavior, and health outcomes.
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spelling pubmed-99787052023-03-03 Contextual and environmental factors that influence health: A within-subjects field experiment protocol Li, Dongying Lee, Chanam Park, Amaryllis H. Lee, Hanwool Ding, Yizhen Front Public Health Public Health BACKGROUND: Despite the growing research on environment-physical activity (PA) relationships, field experimental studies are limited. Such studies offer opportunities to focus on real-world environmental exposure and related PA and health outcomes, allowing researchers to better isolate the causal effect of exposures/interventions. Focusing on the street/pedestrian environment as a routine setting for people's daily activities, this research aims to develop and test a field experiment protocol that integrates instantaneous assessments of the environment, PA, and health outcomes. The protocol involves the use of state-of-the-art environmental monitoring and biosensing techniques and focuses on physically active road users (pedestrians and bicyclists) who are more directly exposed to their surrounding environment than others such as drivers. METHODS/DESIGN: An interdisciplinary research team first identified the target measurement domains for the health outcomes (e.g., stress, thermal comfort, PA) and the street-level environmental exposures (e.g., land use, greenery, infrastructure conditions, air quality, weather) guided by the previous literature which was primarily observational. Portable or wearable measurement instruments (e.g., GPS, accelerometer, biosensor, mini camera, smartphone app, weather station, air quality sensor) were identified, pilot tested, and selected for the identified measures. We ensured that these measures are readily linkable using the time stamp and include eye-level exposures as they impact the users' experiences more directly yet missing in most prior studies relying on secondary, aerial-level measures. A 50-min experimental route was then determined to include typical everyday environments in park and mixed-use settings and to engage participants in three common modes of transportation (walking, bicycling, and driving). Finally, a detailed staff protocol was developed, pilot-tested, and used in a 36-participant within-subject field experiment in College Station, TX. The experiment was successfully executed, showing its potential to support future field experiments that can provide more accurate real-time, real-environment, and multi-dimensional information. DISCUSSION: Our study demonstrates the feasibility of capturing the multifold health benefits/harms related to walking and bicycling in varying urban environments by combining field experiments with environmental, behavioral, and physiological sensing. Our study protocol and reflections can be helpful for a broad spectrum of research addressing the complex and multi-level pathways between the environment, behavior, and health outcomes. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-02-16 /pmc/articles/PMC9978705/ /pubmed/36875421 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1019885 Text en Copyright © 2023 Li, Lee, Park, Lee and Ding. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Li, Dongying
Lee, Chanam
Park, Amaryllis H.
Lee, Hanwool
Ding, Yizhen
Contextual and environmental factors that influence health: A within-subjects field experiment protocol
title Contextual and environmental factors that influence health: A within-subjects field experiment protocol
title_full Contextual and environmental factors that influence health: A within-subjects field experiment protocol
title_fullStr Contextual and environmental factors that influence health: A within-subjects field experiment protocol
title_full_unstemmed Contextual and environmental factors that influence health: A within-subjects field experiment protocol
title_short Contextual and environmental factors that influence health: A within-subjects field experiment protocol
title_sort contextual and environmental factors that influence health: a within-subjects field experiment protocol
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9978705/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36875421
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1019885
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