Schneider, P.P. orcid.org/0000-0003-3552-1087, Smith, R.A., Bullas, A.M. et al. (4 more authors) (Submitted: 2019) Where should new parkrun events be located? Modelling the potential impact of 200 new events on socio-economic inequalities in access and participation. medRxiv. (Submitted)
Abstract
Background parkrun, an international movement which organises free weekly 5km running events, has been widely praised for encouraging inactive individuals to participate in physical activity. Recently, parkrun received funding to establish 200 new events across England, specifically targeted at deprived communities. This study aims to investigate the relationships between geographic access, deprivation, and participation in parkrun, and to inform the planned expansion by proposing future event locations. Methods We conducted an ecological spatial analysis, using data on 455 parkrun events, 2,842 public green spaces, and 32,844 English census areas. Poisson regression was applied to investigate the relationships between the distances to events, deprivation, and parkrun participation rates. Model estimates were incorporated into a location-allocation analysis, to identify locations for future events that maximise deprivation-weighted parkrun participation. Results The distance to the nearest event (in km) and the Index of Multiple Deprivation (score) were both independently negatively associated with local parkrun participation rates. Rate ratios were 0.921 (95%CI = 0.921-0.922) and 0.959 (0.959-0.959), respectively. The recommended 200 new event locations were estimated to increase weekly runs by 6.9% (from 82,824 to 88,506). Of the additional runs, 4.1% (n=231) were expected to come from the 10% most deprived communities. Conclusion Participation in parkrun is wide spread across England. We provide recommendations for new parkrun event location, in order to increase participation from deprived communities. However, the creation of new events alone is unlikely to be an effective strategy. Further research is needed to study how barriers to participation can be reduced.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Health and Related Research (Sheffield) > ScHARR - Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 10 Jul 2020 06:04 |
Last Modified: | 10 Jul 2020 06:26 |
Status: | Submitted |
Publisher: | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory |
Identification Number: | 10.1101/19004143 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:161601 |