Understanding environmental influences on nutrition and physical activity behaviors: where should we look and what should we count?
Ball, Kylie, Timperio, Anna and Crawford, David 2006, Understanding environmental influences on nutrition and physical activity behaviors: where should we look and what should we count?, International journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, vol. 3, no. 33, pp. 1-8, doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-3-33.
International journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity
Volume number
3
Issue number
33
Start page
1
End page
8
Publisher
BioMed Central
Place of publication
London, England
Publication date
2006
ISSN
1479-5868
Summary
Research interest in the influence of environmental factors on nutrition and physical activity behaviors has surged internationally in recent years. This is evident from a rapidly expanding literature and facilitated by advances in methodological and analytical approaches to assessing multiple levels of influence on health behaviors. However, a number of conceptual challenges complicate research endeavours in this field. The purpose of this paper is to provide a 'state of the science' overview of evidence regarding environmental influences on nutrition and physical activity behaviors. We focus particularly on a number of key conceptual and methodological issues, including: a consideration of how the environment is defined; the selection and operationalization of environmental exposures; and the importance of integrating existing understanding of individual influences on behavior with the emerging data on the role of the environment. We draw on examples from the published literature including our own research studies to illustrate these issues. We conclude by proposing a research agenda to progress understanding of the influences of the environment on population nutrition and physical activity behaviors.
Notes
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Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that permission has been obtained for items included in DRO. If you believe that your rights have been infringed by this repository, please contact drosupport@deakin.edu.au.