title: Involving community stakeholders to increase park use and physical activity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to describe implementation of a randomized controlled trial of community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches to increase park use and physical activity across 33 diverse neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty parks were randomly assigned based on park size, facilities and programs, and neighborhood socio-demographic characteristics to: park director (PD, 17 parks); PD and park advisory board of interested community members (PD+PAB, 16 parks); and no-intervention control (17 parks) arms. Between 2007 and 2012, PDs and PABs from the 33 intervention parks participated in community engagement, baseline assessment, marketing training, intervention design and implementation, and follow-up assessment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Intervention parks (PD and PD+PAB) invested in new and diversified signage, promotional items, outreach or support for group activities like fitness classes and walking clubs, and various marketing strategies. Scaling up CBPR methods across parks in 33 diverse neighborhoods was challenging. Working with departmental management and established structures for community input (PABs) and park policy (PDs) facilitated implementation and sustainability.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Scaling up CBPR methods across diverse communities involved tradeoffs. CBPR is useful for tailoring research and enhancing community impact and sustainability, but more work is needed to understand how to conduct multi-site trials across diverse settings using CBPR.
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, 1776 Main St, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138, USA. Electronic address: derose@rand.org.
authors.forename: Kathryn Pitkin
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Derose
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, 1776 Main St, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138, USA. Electronic address: tmarsh@rand.org.
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Marsh
authors.affiliation: Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, 1670 Palos Verdes Drive North, Harbor City, CA 90710, USA. Electronic address: mark.mariscal@lacity.org.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mariscal
authors.affiliation: Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, 3900 Chevy Chase Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90039, USA. Electronic address: sophia.pinacortez@lacity.org.
authors.forename: Sophia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pina-Cortez
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, 1776 Main St, P.O. Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138, USA. Electronic address: dcohen@rand.org.
authors.forename: Deborah A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003159:Community-Institutional Relations; D004779:Environment Design / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D005006:Ethnicity; D015444:Exercise; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D015141:Los Angeles; D008389:Marketing of Health Services / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016730:Program Development / Q000379:methods; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011633:Public Facilities / Q000592:standards; D011998:Recreation; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: Community-based participatory research; Exercise; Recreation