Exploring factors affecting individual GPS-based activity space and how researcher-defined food environments represent activity space, exposure and use of food outlets
Abstract Background Obesity remains one of the most challenging public health issues of our modern time. Despite the face validity of claims for influence, studies on the causes of obesity have reported the influence of the food environment to be inconsistent. This inconsistency has been attributed...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2021-07-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Health Geographics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12942-021-00287-9 |
| _version_ | 1819151811566632960 |
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| author | Windi Lameck Marwa Duncan Radley Samantha Davis James McKenna Claire Griffiths |
| author_facet | Windi Lameck Marwa Duncan Radley Samantha Davis James McKenna Claire Griffiths |
| author_sort | Windi Lameck Marwa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Obesity remains one of the most challenging public health issues of our modern time. Despite the face validity of claims for influence, studies on the causes of obesity have reported the influence of the food environment to be inconsistent. This inconsistency has been attributed to the variability of measures used by researchers to represent the food environments—Researcher-Defined Food Environments (RDFE) like circular, street-network buffers, and others. This study (i.) determined an individual’s Activity Space (AS) (ii.) explored the accuracy of the RDFE in representing the AS, (iii.) investigated the accuracy of the RDFE in representing actual exposure, and (iv.) explored whether exposure to food outlet reflects the use of food outlets. Methods Data were collected between June and December 2018. A total of 65 participants collected Global Positioning System (GPS) data, kept receipt of all their food purchases, completed a questionnaire about their personal information and had their weight and height measured. A buffer was created around the GPS points and merged to form an AS (GPS-based AS). Results Statistical and geospatial analyses found that the AS size of participants working away from home was positively related to the Euclidean distance from home to workplace; the orientation (shape) of AS was also influenced by the direction of workplace from home and individual characteristics were not predictive of the size of AS. Consistent with some previous studies, all types and sizes of RDFE variably misrepresented individual exposure in the food environments. Importantly, the accuracy of the RDFE was significantly improved by including both the home and workplace domains. The study also found no correlation between exposure and use of food outlets. Conclusions Home and workplace are key activity nodes in modelling AS or food environments and the relationship between exposure and use is more complex than is currently suggested in both empirical and policy literature. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T14:39:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-54fa603e69144f6bb9120cfca839024d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1476-072X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T14:39:20Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Health Geographics |
| spelling | doaj.art-54fa603e69144f6bb9120cfca839024d2022-12-21T18:22:34ZengBMCInternational Journal of Health Geographics1476-072X2021-07-0120111810.1186/s12942-021-00287-9Exploring factors affecting individual GPS-based activity space and how researcher-defined food environments represent activity space, exposure and use of food outletsWindi Lameck Marwa0Duncan Radley1Samantha Davis2James McKenna3Claire Griffiths4Leeds Beckett UniversityLeeds Beckett UniversityLeeds Beckett UniversityLeeds Beckett UniversityLeeds Beckett UniversityAbstract Background Obesity remains one of the most challenging public health issues of our modern time. Despite the face validity of claims for influence, studies on the causes of obesity have reported the influence of the food environment to be inconsistent. This inconsistency has been attributed to the variability of measures used by researchers to represent the food environments—Researcher-Defined Food Environments (RDFE) like circular, street-network buffers, and others. This study (i.) determined an individual’s Activity Space (AS) (ii.) explored the accuracy of the RDFE in representing the AS, (iii.) investigated the accuracy of the RDFE in representing actual exposure, and (iv.) explored whether exposure to food outlet reflects the use of food outlets. Methods Data were collected between June and December 2018. A total of 65 participants collected Global Positioning System (GPS) data, kept receipt of all their food purchases, completed a questionnaire about their personal information and had their weight and height measured. A buffer was created around the GPS points and merged to form an AS (GPS-based AS). Results Statistical and geospatial analyses found that the AS size of participants working away from home was positively related to the Euclidean distance from home to workplace; the orientation (shape) of AS was also influenced by the direction of workplace from home and individual characteristics were not predictive of the size of AS. Consistent with some previous studies, all types and sizes of RDFE variably misrepresented individual exposure in the food environments. Importantly, the accuracy of the RDFE was significantly improved by including both the home and workplace domains. The study also found no correlation between exposure and use of food outlets. Conclusions Home and workplace are key activity nodes in modelling AS or food environments and the relationship between exposure and use is more complex than is currently suggested in both empirical and policy literature.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12942-021-00287-9Global Positioning SystemsActivity spaceGeographic Information SystemResearcher-Defined Food EnvironmentsPositive Predictive valueSensitivity |
| spellingShingle | Windi Lameck Marwa Duncan Radley Samantha Davis James McKenna Claire Griffiths Exploring factors affecting individual GPS-based activity space and how researcher-defined food environments represent activity space, exposure and use of food outlets International Journal of Health Geographics Global Positioning Systems Activity space Geographic Information System Researcher-Defined Food Environments Positive Predictive value Sensitivity |
| title | Exploring factors affecting individual GPS-based activity space and how researcher-defined food environments represent activity space, exposure and use of food outlets |
| title_full | Exploring factors affecting individual GPS-based activity space and how researcher-defined food environments represent activity space, exposure and use of food outlets |
| title_fullStr | Exploring factors affecting individual GPS-based activity space and how researcher-defined food environments represent activity space, exposure and use of food outlets |
| title_full_unstemmed | Exploring factors affecting individual GPS-based activity space and how researcher-defined food environments represent activity space, exposure and use of food outlets |
| title_short | Exploring factors affecting individual GPS-based activity space and how researcher-defined food environments represent activity space, exposure and use of food outlets |
| title_sort | exploring factors affecting individual gps based activity space and how researcher defined food environments represent activity space exposure and use of food outlets |
| topic | Global Positioning Systems Activity space Geographic Information System Researcher-Defined Food Environments Positive Predictive value Sensitivity |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12942-021-00287-9 |
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