Aaron Hipp - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Aaron Hipp

Preventive medicine reports, 2017

The worksite serves as an ideal setting to reduce sedentary time. Yet little research has focused... more The worksite serves as an ideal setting to reduce sedentary time. Yet little research has focused on occupational sitting, and few have considered factors beyond the personal or socio-demographic level. The current study i) examined variation in occupational sitting across different occupations, ii) explored whether worksite level factors (e.g., employer size, worksite supports and policies) may be associated with occupational sitting. Between 2012 and 2013, participants residing in four Missouri metropolitan areas were interviewed via telephone and provided information on socio-demographic characteristics, schedule flexibility, occupation, work related factors, and worksite supports and policies. Occupational sitting was self-reported (daily minutes spent sitting at work), and dichotomized. Occupation-stratified analyses were conducted to identify correlates of occupational sitting using multiple logistic regressions. A total of 1668 participants provided completed data. Those empl...

Preventive medicine reports, 2016

Dietary behaviors are associated with obesity, and may be influenced by the environment. The obje... more Dietary behaviors are associated with obesity, and may be influenced by the environment. The objective of the current work was to investigate whether perceptions of built environment factors related to eating in the residential neighborhood will have different, independent associations with BMI and dietary behaviors than perceived built environment factors in the worksite neighborhood. In 2012-2013, a cross-sectional telephone-survey of Missouri adults (n = 2015) assessed perceptions of home and workplace built environment factors related to eating, dietary behaviors, and height and weight. Logistic regression models explored associations between perceived neighborhood built environment variables, diet, and obesity. The only variable associated with any of the outcomes explored in the fully adjusted models was the home neighborhood composite scale. None of the work environment variables were significantly associated with any of the health/behavior outcomes after adjustment. Few asso...

Preventive Medicine, 2016

Popularity of Open Streets, temporarily opening streets to communities and closing streets to veh... more Popularity of Open Streets, temporarily opening streets to communities and closing streets to vehicles, in the US has recently surged. As of January 2016, 122 cities have hosted an Open Streets program. Even with this great expansion, the sustainability of Open Streets remains a challenge in many cities and overall Open Streets in the US differ from their successful counterparts in Central and South America. Between summer 2015 and winter 2016, we reviewed the websites and social media of the 122 identified programs and interviewed 32 unique Open Streets programs. Websites and social media were reviewed for program initiation, number of Open Streets days, length of routes, duration of program, and reported participation. Interview questions focused on barriers and facilitators of expanding Open Streets and specific questioning regarding local evaluation activities. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed with constant comparative methodology. Over three-quarters of US Open Streets programs have been initiated since 2010, with median frequency of one time per year, 4h per date, and 5000-9999 participants. Seventy-seven percent of program routes are under 5km in length. Success of programs was measured by enthusiasm, attendance, social media, survey metrics, and sustainability. Thirteen of 32 program organizers expressed interest in expanding their programs to 12 dates per year, but noted consistent barriers to expansion including funding, permitting, and branding. Though many cities now host Open Streets programs, their ability to effect public health remains limited with few program dates per year. Coordinated efforts, especially around funding, permitting, and branding may assist in expanding program dates.

Springer Geography, 2016

There are tens of thousands of publicly available webcams which constantly view the world and sha... more There are tens of thousands of publicly available webcams which constantly view the world and share those images. These cameras include traffic cams, campus cams, ski-resort cams, etc. The Archive of Many Outdoor Scenes (AMOS) is a project that aims to geo-locate, calibrate, annotate, archive and visualize these cameras to serve as an imaging resource for a wide variety of scientific applications. Here we report on a multi-disciplinary project to demonstrate and evaluate the potential for webcams to be re-purposed as a tool to evaluate patterns of populationlevel physical activity behavior in diverse urban built environments.

ABSTRACT Introduction: Abundant evidence shows regular physical activity (PA) and time outdoors a... more ABSTRACT Introduction: Abundant evidence shows regular physical activity (PA) and time outdoors are effective strategies for preventing obesity and stress in people of all ages. Characteristics of neighborhood environments are a common barrier to PA. The present project analyzes existing, online public web data feeds to assess differences in outdoor PA by neighborhood (census tracts) socio-economic status (SES) in St. Louis, MO. Methods: We are analyzing participant-defined PA routes submitted by users of MapMyRun.com. This website enables participants to track their walking and running routes online, by uploading data from a GPS navigation device. We are visually illustrating the routes using Geographic Information Systems and overlaying routes with indicators of neighborhood SES to examine spatial access and use of parklands and public infrastructure (i.e., sidewalks) for outdoor PA. Results: Pending results from this study can improve technical capability in measuring rates of PA by identifying neighborhood preferences for outdoor walking and running. This can inform land use policy decisions, particularly in inaccessible neighborhood environments, which ought to be structured in ways that can provide residents with resources and opportunities to easily incorporate PA into daily routines. Conclusions: We present a novel effort combining expertise of researchers in urban planning, public health, and communication technology by using inexpensive, unobtrusive, and publicly available web data feeds (i.e., crowd-sourcing) to evaluate neighborhood PA. Understanding neighborhood factors that influence PA have broader urban design and public health implications, especially for vulnerable populations living in neighborhoods with limited or no accessibility to outdoor PA resources.

Journal of Urban Health, 2016

Physical activity among youth is shaped by the natural and built environment within which they li... more Physical activity among youth is shaped by the natural and built environment within which they live; however, few studies have focused on assessing playground safety and proximity in detail as part of the built environment for youth physical activity. We analyzed data on 100 publicly accessible playgrounds from Play Across St. Louis, a community-partnered study of the built environment for youth physical activity. Outcomes included overall playground safety, maintenance, and construction scores; distance to nearest playground; and distance to nearest top playground. Independent variables included neighborhood % youth, % black residents, % owner-occupied units, and % vacant units. Playgrounds in the city have varying degrees of safety and proximity. Mean overall playground safety score was 67.0 % (CI = 63.5, 70.4). Neighborhood % youth and % black residents were inversely associated with overall playground safety (p = 0.03 and p &amp;lt; 0.01) and maintenance (p &amp;lt; 0.01 and p &amp;lt; 0.0001). Mean distance to nearest playground was 638.1 and 1488.3 m to nearest top playground. Clusters of low safety scores were found in the northern and central areas while all high safety score clusters were found in the southern part of St. Louis. Public playground safety and proximity vary across St. Louis neighborhoods, especially by neighborhood demographics. Disparities in playground safety and proximity reveal an opportunity to develop community-wide interventions focused on playgrounds for youth activity. Further work is needed to examine the association between playground safety, proximity, and use and youth physical activity and weight.

Recent technological, geophysical, and societal forces have fundamentally altered the structure a... more Recent technological, geophysical, and societal forces have fundamentally altered the structure and functioning of human environments. Prominent among these forces are the rise of the Internet; rapid rates of global environmental change; and widening rifts among different socioeconomic, racial, religious, and ethnic groups. The present article traces the influence of these conditions on individuals' cognition, behavior, and well-being. New theoretical questions are raised and conceptual frameworks proposed to understand how global conditions are restructuring people's relationships with their everyday environments. New directions for psychological research and practice aimed at reducing global threats to personal and societal wellbeing are discussed.

Complete Streets policies aim to accommodate all modes of transportation by guiding planning effo... more Complete Streets policies aim to accommodate all modes of transportation by guiding planning efforts during the (re)design of streets and roadways. The design is to take into equal consideration vehicle drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and those using public transportation. This study builds on recent work in which concepts of Diffusion of Innovation Theory were applied to Complete Streets policies and policy adoption. In the present study, geospatial analyses were conducted to assess potential spatial autocorrelation that may exist for city, county/region, and state Complete Streets policy diffusion. City, county/region, and state Complete Streets policies enacted between 1971 and 2012 were mapped using ArcGIS 10.0 and analyzed for spatial autocorrelation using the Moran's I and Average Nearest Neighbor (ANN) spatial statistics. Data from 307 city policies, 60 county/region policies, and 29 state polices from the continental U.S. were analyzed. City policies were significantly...

Preventing chronic disease, Jan 7, 2015

Obesity prevention strategies are needed that target multiple settings, including the worksite. T... more Obesity prevention strategies are needed that target multiple settings, including the worksite. The objective of this study was to assess the state of science concerning available measures of worksite environmental and policy supports for physical activity (PA) and healthy eating (HE). We searched multiple databases for instruments used to assess worksite environments and policies. Two commonly cited instruments developed by state public health departments were also included. Studies that were published from 1991 through 2013 in peer-reviewed publications and gray literature that discussed the development or use of these instruments were analyzed. Instrument administration mode and measurement properties were documented. Items were classified by general health topic, 5 domains of general worksite strategy, and 19 subdomains of worksite strategy specific to PA or HE. Characteristics of worksite measures were described including measurement properties, length, and administration mode,...

Preventive Medicine Reports, 2015

Objective. Most U.S. children engage in insufficient physical activity (PA) and spend too much ti... more Objective. Most U.S. children engage in insufficient physical activity (PA) and spend too much time in sedentary behaviors (SBs), leading to increased risk of obesity and chronic disease. Evidence remains inconsistent on relationships between parental perceptions of the neighborhood and children's PA and SB. This study examines parental neighborhood perceptions, stratified by race, as predictors of children's PA and SB.

Introduction: Fewer than 50% of adults meet CDC guidelines for physical activity (PA). The built ... more Introduction: Fewer than 50% of adults meet CDC guidelines for physical activity (PA). The built environment (BE) is a culprit for limited PA. The study objective was to analyze existing, online public data feeds to quantify effectiveness of BE interventions and examine the impact of seasonality on these interventions. The Archive of Many Outdoor Scenes (AMOS) has collected 330 million images of outdoor environments from 23,000 public, outdoor webcams since 2006. AMOS captures one image per camera each half hour. Many of the environments captured by AMOS are street intersections with BE improvements during the past seven years. Methods: Using AMOS, webcam photographs were captured for two weeks before and after a BE change (bike lanes, crosswalks) in Washington, DC; one week each from winter and summer. We used the Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) website to crowd-source the image annotation. Results: The number of cyclists per summer photograph increased four-fold between 2009 and 20...

Journal of Transport & Health, 2015

Background-Promoting the use of public transit and active transport (walking and cycling) instead... more Background-Promoting the use of public transit and active transport (walking and cycling) instead of car driving is an appealing strategy to increase overall physical activity.

PLOS ONE, 2015

The workplace is an important setting for health promotion including nutrition and physical activ... more The workplace is an important setting for health promotion including nutrition and physical activity behaviors to prevent obesity. This paper explores the relationship between workplace social environment and cultural factors and diet and physical activity (PA) behaviors and obesity among employees.

Journal of physical activity & health, 2014

The ciclovía, or open streets concept, is a community-level physical activity (PA) promotion stra... more The ciclovía, or open streets concept, is a community-level physical activity (PA) promotion strategy where streets are closed to motorized traffic and open for individuals to engage in PA. This paper presents an overview of such initiatives in the United States (US) to understand their potential in PA promotion, comparing event and city characteristics. We searched ciclovía and open streets initiatives held in 2011 in the US using internet searches, publication databases, social media, and personal contacts. We extracted data on the each initiative's frequency, route length, attendance, evaluation procedures, and sociodemographic characteristics of host cities. Our search yielded 47 US cities with open streets in 2011. Cities were diverse in sociodemographic characteristics. Route lengths ranged from a few blocks to 51 miles and event frequency ranged from annual to monthly. Reporting number of participants for events was sporadic. Few events conducted formal evaluations. The n...

Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care

Access to parks improves overall health outcomes in the general population. Given that HIV infect... more Access to parks improves overall health outcomes in the general population. Given that HIV infection has become a chronic disease to manage, among populations engaged in medical care, parks may be promoted as physical activity opportunities in order to manage chronic comorbid conditions. We conducted a cross-sectional examination of the relationships between sociodemographic and biomedical characteristics to park proximity among 635 individuals receiving outpatient HIV care. The data collected included HIV-related biomarkers, depression, and diagnoses of other chronic diseases. The total acres of parks an individual is exposed within one-quarter mile from their home were assessed. The cohort included 635 individuals (67% men, 73% black, and 21% white, mean age 42 years). Unemployment was negatively associated with park availability. Park proximity was not associated with depression or HIV biomarkers. As yet, little effort has been committed to promoting park usage as a low-cost, sus...

Frontiers in Public Health, 2014

Abundant evidence shows that regular physical activity (PA) is an effective strategy for preventi... more Abundant evidence shows that regular physical activity (PA) is an effective strategy for preventing obesity in people of diverse socioeconomic status (SES) and racial groups. The proportion of PA performed in parks and how this differs by proximate neighborhood SES has not been thoroughly investigated. The present project analyzes online public web data feeds to assess differences in outdoor PA by neighborhood SES in St. Louis, MO, USA. First, running and walking routes submitted by users of the website MapMyRun.com were downloaded. The website enables participants to plan, map, record, and share their exercise routes and outdoor activities like runs, walks, and hikes in an online database. Next, the routes were visually illustrated using geographic information systems. Thereafter, using park data and 2010 Missouri census poverty data, the odds of running and walking routes traversing a low-SES neighborhood, and traversing a park in a low-SES neighborhood were examined in comparison to the odds of routes traversing higher-SES neighborhoods and higher-SES parks. RESULTS show that a majority of running and walking routes occur in or at least traverse through a park. However, this finding does not hold when comparing low-SES neighborhoods to higher-SES neighborhoods in St. Louis. The odds of running in a park in a low-SES neighborhood were 54% lower than running in a park in a higher-SES neighborhood (OR = 0.46, CI = 0.17-1.23). The odds of walking in a park in a low-SES neighborhood were 17% lower than walking in a park in a higher-SES neighborhood (OR = 0.83, CI = 0.26-2.61). The novel methods of this study include the use of inexpensive, unobtrusive, and publicly available web data feeds to examine PA in parks and differences by neighborhood SES. Emerging technologies like MapMyRun.com present significant advantages to enhance tracking of user-defined PA across large geographic and temporal settings.

Preventing Chronic Disease, 2014

Attributes of the built environment can influence active transportation, including use of public ... more Attributes of the built environment can influence active transportation, including use of public transportation. However, the relationship between perceptions of the built environment and use of public transportation deserves further attention. The objectives of this study were 1) to assess the relationship between personal characteristics and public transportation use with meeting national recommendations for moderate physical activity through walking for transportation and 2) to examine associations between personal and perceived environmental factors and frequency of public transportation use. In 2012, we administered a mail-based survey to 772 adults in St Louis, Missouri, to assess perceptions of the built environment, physical activity, and transportation behaviors. The abbreviated International Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to assess walking for transportation and use of public transportation. The Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale was used to examine perceptions of the built environment. Associations were assessed by using multinomial logistic regression. People who used public transportation at least once in the previous week were more likely to meet moderate physical activity recommendations by walking for transportation. Age and employment were significantly associated with public transportation use. Perceptions of high traffic speed and high crime were negatively associated with public transportation use. Our results were consistent with previous research suggesting that public transportation use is related to walking for transportation. More importantly, our study suggests that perceptions of traffic speed and crime are related to frequency of public transportation use. Future interventions to encourage public transportation use should consider policy and planning decisions that reduce traffic speed and improve safety.

Preventing chronic disease, Jan 20, 2014

Few studies have examined the association between occupational sitting and body mass index (BMI).... more Few studies have examined the association between occupational sitting and body mass index (BMI). There is a particular lack of evidence among diverse populations. The objective of this study was to quantify the association between self-reported occupational sitting time and BMI by sex and race, independent of levels of occupational and leisure-time physical activity. In 2012 and 2013, participants residing in 4 Missouri metropolitan areas were interviewed via telephone. The interview included questions on sociodemographic characteristics and time spent sitting at work. Multinomial logistic regressions were used to examine the association between occupational sitting and BMI between men and women and between black and white women. Overall 1,891 participants (66.9% women, 29.5% black) provided complete data. Median daily time spent by both men and women in occupational sitting was 180 minutes (interquartile range, 30 to 360 minutes); most participants were overweight (32.3%) or obese...

Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 2012

Health & Place, 2014

Uncertainty in the relevant spatial context may drive heterogeneity in findings on the built envi... more Uncertainty in the relevant spatial context may drive heterogeneity in findings on the built environment and energy balance. To estimate the effect of this uncertainty, we conducted a sensitivity analysis defining intersection and business densities and counts within different buffer sizes and shapes on associations with self-reported walking and body mass index. Linear regression results indicated that the scale and shape of buffers influenced study results and may partly explain the inconsistent findings in the built environment and energy balance literature.