Awareness and use of community walking trails.
BACKGROUND
Community trail development is an emerging strategy to increase physical activity (PA) among community residents. The purpose of this study was to assess awareness and use of trails and compare perceptions to objective data.


METHODS
A telephone survey was administered to a stratified sample of adults (N = 1,112) in a southeastern county in the United States. Respondents' home addresses and the locations of trails were entered into a GIS database. A kappa statistic was used to measure agreement between awareness and presence of trails. Differences in reported trail use patterns by sex, race, education, and PA levels were evaluated.


RESULTS
There was no agreement between the awareness and presence of trails (kappa = 0.07). Fifty-six percent of the respondents reported having trails; however, only 33% reported using the trails. Of the trail users, 42% reported being regularly active in moderate-to-vigorous PA (30+ min/day for 5+ days/week), and 51% reported being less active (P < 0.003). Among walkers (> or =30 min/day for > or =5 days/week), 49% of regular walkers and 35% of irregular walkers (< walkers) reported using the trails (P < 0.04).


CONCLUSIONS
Awareness of existing trails in this community and levels of use were low. Marketing programs should promote awareness and use of trails among older adults and irregularly active adults.
Health and Exercise Science, Furman University, Greenville, SC 29613, USA. julian.reed@furman.edu
Julian A
JA
Reed
Barbara E
BE
Ainsworth
Dawn K
DK
Wilson
Gary
G
Mixon
Annette
A
Cook
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002958:City Planning; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012922:Social Change; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013022:South Carolina; D016138:Walking / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*