Older people’s views and usage of recreational spaces in parks with age-friendly outdoor exercise equipment

ABSTRACT

Recreational spaces are important public spaces for people of all ages to engage in leisure and physical activities, however older people remain one of the lowest users of park. This study investigated older people’s perceptions and reasons for visiting parks that have undergone refurbishment with the installation of age-friendly outdoor exercise equipment, the Seniors Exercise Park. On-site intercept surveys took place in six parks in Victoria, Australia. Seniors Exercise Park equipment usage was audited over 12 months using on-site Quick Response (QR). A total of 139 older people were surveyed, 55.4% reported visiting to exercise, 25.9% for walking and 21.5% for fresh air/nature. Proximity to home/family (37.4%) and the availability of the Seniors Exercise Park equipment (36.7%) were the main reasons for visiting these parks. The availability of age-suitable exercise equipment in recreational spaces can support and encourage older people to access local parks and engage in physical activity.

KEYWORDS:

• Physical activity
• parks
• recreation
• Seniors Exercise Park
• older people

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to acknowledge Ballarat City Council, Banyule City Council, Knox City Council, Bayside City Council, Frankston City Council, Boroondara City Council and Parks and Leisure Australia VIC/Tasmania for their collaboration and partnership in this project

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and materials

The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are not publicly available due to ethical restrictions but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethical approval was obtained from the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee, Melbourne Australia (Project ID: 25499).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by State Trustees Foundation of Australia. This funding source had no role in the design of the study, its execution, analyses, interpretation of the data, and in writing the manuscript for publication.