Are perceptions of the environment in the workplace ‘neighbourhood’ associated with commuter walking?

Publication date: Available online 29 January 2016 Source:Journal of Transport & Health Author(s): Emma J. Adams, Fiona C. Bull, Charlie E. Foster Walking for the daily commute is one potential strategy for increasing physical activity levels. Understanding the behaviour-specific environmental correlates associated with commuter walking will help effective interventions to be identified and developed. The aim of this study was to examine the associations of perceptions of the environment in the workplace ‘neighbourhood’ and commuter walking. Participants in the baseline survey of the Walking Works intervention study reported perceptions of ten environmental attributes in their workplace neighbourhood, availability of public transport, time spent walking to and from work in the last seven days, their participation in physical activity and socio-demographic characteristics (n=676). We built a series of multivariate logistic regression models to examine associations between each environmental item, public transport availability and commuter walking. Half (52%) of respondents were classified as commuter walkers (n=352) (66% female; 47% aged <30 years). Respondents were significantly more likely to walk for their daily commute if they reported there to be convenient walking routes (OR (odds ratio) 2.05, 95% CI (confidence interval) 1.23–3.42), suitable pavements (OR 2.23, 95% CI 1.23–4.04), maintained pavements (OR 1.64, 95% CI 1.02–2.62) or conv...
Source: Journal of Transport and Health - Category: Occupational Health Source Type: research