PARKINDEX: A TOOL FOR ADVANCING PARKS AND PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

FUNDING SOURCE: National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute (2016-2018)

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS:

CO-INVESTIGATORS:

Access to parks and park use are associated with diverse environmental, economic, social, psychological, and physical health benefits. However, despite enthusiasm among researchers and planners, it is still unclear which park metrics (e.g., proximity, features, quality, surrounding neighborhood) are most associated with park use and how best to combine diverse indicators into a parsimonious measure of park access and exposure. ParkIndex is intended to be an evidence-based tool that will assist citizens and professionals in understanding and using information about community park access, as well as provide community members, park and public health professionals, and researchers with access to standardized and comparable data. The overall purpose of ParkIndex is to create a tool that would allow researchers, planners, and citizens to evaluate the potential for park access and use for a given area.

To learn more about ParkIndex, please visit the Built Environment and Community Health Laboratory website.

PUBLICATIONS:

Kaczynski, A. T., Wende, M., Hughey, M., Stowe, E., Schipperijn, J., Hipp, A., & Javad Koohsari, M. (2023). Association of composite park quality with park use in four diverse cities. Preventive medicine reports, 35, 102381. Epub ahead of print: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102381
DOI: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2023.102381
Abstract: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37680855/

Kaczynski, A. T., Schipperijn, J., Hipp, J. A., Besenyi, G. M., Wilhelm Stanis, S. A., Hughey, S. M., & Wilcox, S. (2016). ParkIndex: development of a standardized metric of park access for research and planning. Preventive Medicine, 87, 110-114. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.02.012

Oliphant, E., Hughey, S.M., Stowe, E.W., Kaczynski, A.T., Schipperijn, J., & Hipp, J.A. (2019). ParkIndex: Using key informant interviews to inform the development of a new park access evaluation tool. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 37(1) doi.org/10.18666/JPRA-2019-8926