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Free play, play controlled by the player(s), is an essential and positive determinant of children's social, physical, and emotional health. Ensuring opportunities for dynamic free play in rich physical and social environments is foundational to a child-friendly community. This paper discusses methodological lessons from a participatory mixed methods research partnership (multisite case study) that evaluated the impact of a municipal investment in an indoor play-based preschool recreation program and space on promoting free play. We reflect on the approach used to understand the differences between an innovative space, purposefully designed to promote free play, and conventional preschool recreation spaces with respect to child-friendly design. This study explored the multifaceted nature of children's play from the perspectives of parents, preschool instructors, and children relative to children's interaction with the physical and social attributes of three preschool environments. The use of a participatory mixed methods approach permitted a nuanced study of the conditions that support free play in municipal preschool recreation programs, which also can be used to study other community spaces. Rigorous methodology allowed for the careful investigation of purported child-friendly places to reveal findings that can provide policy-makers and community stakeholders with viable documentation for future investments in children's play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People's perceptions of local food environments influence their abilities to eat healthily. PhotoVoice participants from four communities in Alberta, Canada took pictures of barriers and opportunities for healthy eating and shared their stories in one-on-one semi-structured interviews. Using a socioecological framework, emergent themes were organized by type and size of environment. Findings show that, while availability and access to food outlets influence healthy eating practices, these factors may be eclipsed by other non-physical environmental considerations, such as food regulations and socio-cultural preferences. This study identifies a set of meta-themes that summarize and illustrate the interrelationships between environmental attributes, people's perceptions, and eating behaviors: a) availability and accessibility are interrelated and only part of the healthy eating equation; b) local food is synonymous with healthy eating; c) local food places for healthy eating help define community identity; d) communal dining (commensality) does not necessarily mean healthy eating; e) rewarding an achievement or celebrating special occasions with highly processed foods is socially accepted; f) food costs seemed to be driving forces in food decisions; g) macro-environmental influences are latent in food decisions. Recognizing the interrelationship among multiple environmental factors may help efforts to design effective community-based interventions and address knowledge gaps on how sociocultural, economic, and political environments intersect with physical worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of evidence shows that community environment plays an important role in individuals' physical activity engagement. However, while attributes of the physical environment are widely investigated, sociocultural, political, and economic aspects of the environment are often neglected. This article helps to fill these knowledge gaps by providing a more comprehensive understanding of multiple dimensions of the community environment relative to physical activity. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively explore how people's experiences and perceptions of their community environments affect their abilities to engage in physical activity. A PhotoVoice method was used to identify barriers to and opportunities for physical activity among residents in four communities in the province of Alberta, Canada, in 2009. After taking pictures, the thirty-five participants shared their perceptions of those opportunities and barriers in their community environments during individual interviews. Using the Analysis Grid for Environments Linked to Obesity (ANGELO) framework, themes emerging from these photo-elicited interviews were organized in four environment types: physical, sociocultural, economic, and political. The data show that themes linked to the physical (56.6%) and sociocultural (31.4%) environments were discussed more frequently than the themes of the economic (5.9%) and political (6.1%) environments. Participants identified nuanced barriers and opportunities for physical activity, which are illustrated by their quotes and photographs. The findings suggest that a myriad of factors from physical, sociocultural, economic, and political environments influence people's abilities to be physically active in their communities. Therefore, adoption of a broad, ecological perspective is needed to address the barriers and build upon the opportunities described by participants to make communities more healthy and active. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]