Project Objectives

View the fact sheet »
(PDF, 329 KB)

To achieve project goals, research activities include:

• A series of quantitative and qualitative studies aimed at understanding the role of the built environment in contributing to youth obesity;
  
  
• An extensive scan of the existing policy environment in Nova Scotia, nationally, and internationally and a literature review on built environment and youth obesity connections;
  
  
• Presentation of findings to local, national and international audiences, including provincial and national policy forums;
  
  
• Development of a training module for planners, developers, and other decision makers to orient their thinking toward planning for built environments that support physical activity and healthy eating for youth.

Principal Investigator:

Renée Lyons &
Jill Grant

Term of Project:

2007 - 2012

Project Location:

Halifax Regional Municipality

For more information please contact:

Cindy Shearer
Project Coordinator
(902) 494-2604
cindy.shearer@dal.ca

Meredith Flannery
Project Coordinator
(902) 494-8369
flannery@dal.ca

Funded by:

Partners:

• AHPRC,
• Dalhousie University,
• The Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness,
• Halifax Regional Municipality,
• Halifax Regional School Board
• Heart and Stroke Foundation of Nova Scotia,
• Nova Scotia Youth Secretariat,
• United Way of Halifax,
• Ecology Action Centre,
• Canadian Obesity Network,
• The International Physical Activity and the Environment Network

The Problem

Obesity is a problem of national and global significance. Nova Scotia has one of the highest rates of youth obesity in Canada (Tjepkema, 2006, Willms et al., 2003). Recent statistics revealed that only a small percentage of students in grade 7 and grade 11 in Nova Scotia met the recommended physical activity levels needed to achieve health benefits (Campagna et al., 2005). Furthermore, their diets did not meet the guidelines in Canada's Food Guide. Changes in physical activity during adolescence are often carried into adulthood. Therefore, adolescence is an important time to make changes in physical activity and eating behaviour in order to reduce rates of obesity.

Governments and developers spend billions of dollars each year modifying the built environment based on policies related to zoning and building, land use, neighbourhood form, transportation, and capital funding. Yet, these policies rarely take into consideration the growing problem of youth obesity.

A suburban car culture is said to contribute to unhealthy lifestyles. But it is only one of the factors that is being examined during our Environment, Nutrition, and Activity project (ENACT).

This study involves 6 schools in the Halifax Regional Municipality. By taking part in the project, students are helping to provide a snapshot of youth physical activity and dietary choices as well as information about how youth are interacting with the built environment.

The researchers involved in this study hope to use the results to advise municipal and provincial decision-makers about how they can invest in infrastructure and policy changes in order to promote physical activity and healthy diets among Nova Scotia's youth.

Upcoming Event

ENACT Publications

Papers

• Storytelling, Group Dynamics, and Professional Cultures: Lessons from a Focus Group Study

  Jill L. Grant (2011). Storytelling, Group Dynamics, and Professional Cultures: Lessons from a Focus Group Study, Planning Theory & Practice, 12:3, 407-425
  
  20 pages | + View Abstract
  
  View the paper »
  
  
• - Hide Abstract
  
  The social context within focus groups affects the types of stories told, and who tells them. Serendipitous findings from a focus group study in Atlantic Canada revealed different storytelling styles among various types of professionals. While recreation staff told positive stories of community engagement and personal stories of transformation, planners narrated tales of political struggle and professional frustration. The findings offer lessons about learning from research failures and demonstrate the potential utility of focus groups as a setting for research on storytelling. By illuminating differences in professional cultures, the analysis suggests that effectively managed focus groups may provide a useful venue for facilitating deliberate and reflective practice.
  
  

• Barriers to Optimizing Investments in the Built Environment to Reduce Youth Obesity:
  Policy-maker Perspectives

  Grant, J.L., MacKay, K.C., Manuel, P.M., & McHugh, T-L. (2010). Canadian Journal of Public Health, 101(3), 237-40.
  
  3 pages | + View Abstract
  
  View the paper »
  
  
• - Hide Abstract
  
  Objective: To identify factors which limit the ability of local governments to make appropriate investments in the built environment to promote youth health and reduce obesity outcomes in Atlantic Canada.
  
  Method: Policy-makers and professionals participated in focus groups to discuss the receptiveness of local governments to introducing health considerations into decision-making. Seven facilitated focus groups involved 44 participants from Atlantic Canada. Thematic discourse analysis of the meeting transcripts identified systemic barriers to creating a built environment that fosters health for youth aged 12-15 years.
  
  Results: Participants consistently identified four categories of barriers. Financial barriers limit the capacities of local government to build, maintain and operate appropriate facilities. Legacy issues mean that communities inherit a built environment designed to facilitate car use, with inadequate zoning authority to control fast food outlets, and without the means to determine where schools are built or how they are used. Governance barriers derive from government departments with distinct and competing mandates, with a professional structure that privileges engineering, and with funding programs that encourage competition between municipalities. Cultural factors and values affect outcomes: people have adapted to car-oriented living; poverty reduces options for many families; parental fears limit children's mobility; youth receive limited priority in built environment investments.
  
  Conclusion: Participants indicated that health issues have increasing profile within local government, making this an opportune time to discuss strategies for optimizing investments in the built environment. The focus group method can foster mutual learning among professionals within government in ways that could advance health promotion.
  
  

• Policy and Decision Maker Perspectives on Youth Health and the Built Environment:
  Focus Groups with Atlantic Canadian Planners

  Grant, J.L. and Manuel, P.M. (2011). Planning Practice and Research, 26(1), 43-57.
  
  14 pages | February 2011 | + View Abstract
  
  View the paper »
  
  
• - Hide Abstract
  
  As obesity rates have climbed, the planning literature has identified possible connections between health and the built environment. This paper reports on the results of focus group discussions with planners and policy-members in Atlantic Canada, a region with high youth obesity rates. Planner participants showed limited knowledge of the way that planning and zoning policies could affect healthy eating options for youth. They believed that the built environment affected mobility outcomes but commonly attributed obesity to lifestyle choices. The research identifies the need for greater communication and collaboration amongst different government departments and levels to increase understanding of potential links between the built environment and health outcomes for youth.
  
  

Posters

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  Optimizing Investments in the Built Environment to Reduce Youth Obesity: Progress and Directions

  View the poster »
  (PDF, 501 KB)
  
  
  
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  Project Overview - Optimizing Investments in the Built Environment to Reduce Youth Obesity

  View the poster »
  (PDF, 105 KB)
  
  
  
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  Optimizing Investments in the Built Environment to Reduce Youth Obesity: Methodological Dilemmas and Approaches

  View the poster »
  (PDF, 700 KB)
  
  
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  The Environment, Nutrition and Activity Project: Software Development and Spatial Activity Data Processing

  View the poster »
  (PDF, 8.81 MB)
  
  
  

Presentations

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  Policy Decision Maker Perspectives on Youth Health
  and the Built Environment

  View the presentation »
  (PDF, 768 KB)
  
  
• 

  Optimizing Investments in the Built Environment to Reduce Youth Obesity

  View the presentation »
  (PDF, 361 KB)
  
  
• 

  The obesogenic environment:
  where does the built environment fit?

  View the presentation »
  (PDF, 991 KB)
  
  

News Articles & Newsletters

• New Technology Maps the Surprising Subtleties of Childhood
  and Teen Obesity
  American Scientific, April 10, 2012, by Katherine Harmon

  The obesity epidemic has already reached the youngest demographic: About 17 percent of U.S. children and teens are obese, and about one in three are overweight. These numbers, reflected in many other countries, have risen steadily in recent decades. And researchers are racing to find the most powerful drivers behind these scary figures, as children who carry the extra pounds into adulthood increase their risks for diabetes, heart disease and other chronic diseases.
  
  View the article »
  
  

• Obesity Linked to Neighborhood Features:
  Do You Live in a Fat Neighborhood?
  ABC News, April 10, 2012, by Kim Carollo

  Where you live may determine your child's weight, according to a series of new studies published this week.
  
  In a special issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers from the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom used geographic information systems (GIS) to look at how features of neighborhoods children live and play in affect their health.
  
  View the article »
  
  

• Healthy schools, healthy kids
  Grade 5 kids and their parents are taking part in a province-wide survey
  Dal News, April 19, 2011, by Marilyn Smulders

  Concerned about rising obesity rates and diabetes in younger children, the Food and Nutrition Policy was developed in consultation with parents, educators and students. The policy was introduced in September 2006 to phase out junk food from cafeterias and vending machines and to make eating healthy food "easier."
  
  View the article »
  
  

• A heavy cost
  Dal News, October 27, 2010, by Amanda Pelham

  Children as young as three may already be clocking more time in doctors' offices if they're overweight or obese compared to normal weight peers.
  
  View the article »
  
  

• Research Profile: The Environment, Nutrition and Activity Project (ENACT)
  Comprehensive School Health Research Quarterly, July 2010, Volume 2, Issue 4

  Nova Scotia has one of the highest rates of youth obesity in Canada. Only a small percentage of Nova Scotia students in grade 7 and grade 11 meet the recommended physical activity levels needed to achieve health benefits and their diets do not meet the guidelines set out in Canada's Food Guide. Because changes in physical activity during adolescence are often carried into adulthood, adolescence is an important time to make healthy changes in physical activity and eating behaviour in order to reduce rates of obesity.
  
  View the article »
  
  

• Fighting youth obesity one step at a time
  Dal News, April 10, 2008, by Amanda Pelham

  Deborah O'Brien was walking to a nearby elementary school with her daughters, who were excited about the adventure of carrying umbrellas. As a nurse and an athlete, she often looks for ways to build exercise into her day and hopes to show her daughters the same healthy habits.
  
  View the article »
  
  

Related links and Information

Presentations

Dynamic Modeling for Health Policy: Obesity & Obesity Related Chronic Disease » (PDF, 408 KB)

The Obesogenic Environment: What About Food? »
(PDF, 5.9 MB)

Bicycling Interventions for Youth »
(PDF, 2.96 MB)

Research

Active Kids Healthy Kids: Keeping Pace »
Keeping Pace is designed to help keep Nova Scotians up-to-date on the physical activity and eating habits of Nova Scotia's young people. Keeping Pace is based on data from the Physical Activity and Dietary Intake of Children and Youth in Nova Scotia (PACY) studies from 2001 and 2005, funded by the Nova Scotia Department of Health Promotion and Protection and the Department of Education. Each issue introduces a new theme, highlighting key findings from the research.

News articles

'National dialogue' to tackle childhood obesity »
CBC News | by Meagan Fitzpatrick | March 7, 2011
The federal and provincial health ministers launched a new strategy Monday to curb the rising rates of obesity in children. Federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced the "Our Health Our Future" project in Toronto. A new website will serve as an online forum and a report with recommendations will be presented at a national summit this fall where federal, provincial and territorial health ministers will decide on further actions.

Team List