Please note this application is under active development. If you spot any errors or something isn't working, please contact us at evidence.service@wales.nhs.uk.
NICE Underpinning Review
"A review of NICE guideline PH8 on physical activity and the environment identified that some sections of the guideline needed updating as new evidence was available. The update also has a particular focus on those who are less able to be physically active. The update focuses on interventions in the following environments: Built environment including roads, pavements, the external areas of buildings and open 'grey' space, such as urban squares and pedestrianised areas. Natural environment, including 'green' and 'blue' spaces. Green spaces include: urban parks, open green areas, woods and forests, coastland and countryside, and paths and routes connecting them. Blue spaces include: the sea, lakes, rivers and canals. This third evidence review focuses on the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of park, neighbourhood and multicomponent interventions."
"Overall, the quality of the studies was poor. As noted in section 3.3, none of the studies were rated [++] and only 6 studies were given a quality rating score of [+]. The remaining 16 studies were allocated [-]. No economic evaluations were identified, other than small sections on economic data within two studies (Cohen et al 2014 and Cohen et al 2015). Consistent themes do emerge across the studies:
Park interventions show mixed effects on park visits and physical activity expenditure, possibly due to factors outside of the scope of interventions affecting outcomes (i.e. cancellation of events programmes and incomplete construction at follow-up).
Poor perception of safety (personal security) appears to be a significant deterrent to using existing or new parks and trails. While interventions tend to result in improved perceptions of safety (personal security), there is not always increased park or trail use and physical activity.
Neighbourhood interventions reported no significant effect on minutes of walking, moderate to vigorous physical activity, or frequency of outdoor activity. However, it may be that active travel by walking is associated with plentiful access to bus stops and railway stations, and a larger number of mixed destinations within walking distance.
Large scale programmes over multiple areas to increase physical activity through multiple interventions tend to show no significant effect. This may be obscuring variation by combining diverse interventions which, if analysed individually, may show more conclusive results."