Measuring Physical Environments of Parks and Playgrounds: EAPRS Instrument Development and Inter-Rater Reliability.

A better understanding of environments in which physical activity occurs is critical to increasing physical activity. Research on the relationship between levels of physical activity and the availability of park/playground areas is limited because there are no instruments to assess the quality of these public recreation spaces. Little is known about what dimensions of quality enhance use, for example, because these physical activity environments can’t be characterized. This article discusses the first step, based on a qualitative survey of park and recreational professionals and frequent park users, in the process of creating an instrument to assess parks and playgrounds.