Perceptions of park quality were related to more physical
activity and lower BMI, suggesting park quality improvements
could be an effective health promotion strategy. Given the
demonstrated reliability and utility of the neighborhood park
quality scale, future research and practice about parks and
health behaviors and outcomes should consider residents’ per-
ceptions in addition to GIS and audit data about parks. For
example, increasing efforts to demonstrate the benefits of parks
and enhancing residents’ awareness of those benefits could
potentially help to facilitate physical activity and community
health, while understanding disparities in perceptions of neigh-
borhood park quality may be important to promote physical
activity among diverse groups. In general, using better meas-
ures to understand how perceptions of local parks are associ-
ated with physical activity and health can add a valuable
dimension to our appreciation of the role of parks in facilitating
active living.
Conflict of Interest Statement The authors have no conflict of
interest to disclose.