Reconciling opposing perceptions of access to physical activity in a gentrifying urban neighborhood.
Krista Schroeder, Heather Klusaritz, Roxanne Dupuis and 4 others
PMID 30908690WHAT IT FOUND
Nineteen adults in a gentrifying Philadelphia neighborhood described opposing perceptions of access to physical activity.
Most Black or African-American participants saw unsafe, limited options; most White and Asian participants saw green, walkable resources. Nurses should ask perceived access before recommending local activity.
Key findings
01Participants living in the same urban neighborhood held markedly different perceptions of conditions for physical activity.
02An emerging pattern, described as hypothesis-generating, was that most Black or African-American participants perceived an unhealthy neighborhood with limited options, while most other participants perceived a green, inviting neighborhood with multiple resources.
03Some participants described unsafe, disrepaired, or costly spaces as barriers, while others described resources that had been created or redeveloped recently near gentrified university areas.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study included 19 participants, so it is a small qualitative sample rather than a measure of population patterns. It was set in one gentrifying urban neighborhood and may not generalize to rural, suburban, or non-gentrifying urban neighborhoods. The racial pattern was described as emerging and hypothesis-generating, not as a tested difference. The authors noted substantial within-group variation, so race and age should not be treated as fixed explanations for individual perceptions. Sample demographics were only roughly similar to neighborhood demographics. Interviews were conducted only during daytime hours, with varying times of day. Future studies were suggested to triangulate with survey and neighborhood assessment data, indicating the perceptions were not cross-checked with objective measures in this study.
Declared interests
The article text does not report author conflicts of interest. Publication types list NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that gentrification caused less favorable physical activity perceptions for Black or African-American residents. The study reports perceptions from 19 people in one neighborhood and calls the racial pattern hypothesis-generating.