Tekijät

• Kantomaa, Marko (Young Finland Association)
• Karvinen, Jukka (Young Finland Association)
• Norra, Jan (Young Finland Association)
• Orjala, Anu (Young Finland Association)
• Ruokonen, Reijo (Young Finland Association)

Asiasanat

exercise (physical activity), local community facilities, parents, physical activities, sports facilities

Sisällön kuvaus

The survey was part of a multifaceted evaluation of neighbourhood sports facilities carried out by Young Finland Association. Data were collected from four different sources: from project managers of sports facility construction projects (FSD2537), children and young people in the neighbourhood where the facility is located (FSD2535), their parents (FSD2536), and schools if the facility was located in the schoolyard (FSD2538). The main themes in the parent survey were physical exercise and activities during leisure time, use of the neighbourhood sports facility and opinions on the facility. Several questions had space in the questionnaire for responses from both the mother and the father.

Physical activities of both parents at leisure time were charted by asking the respondents how often they took strenuous exercise (becoming at least somewhat breathless and sweaty) for at least 30 minutes at a time, how many minutes a day they spent walking and cycling to go to work or to go somewhere else, whether they used the neighbourhood sports facility at leisure time, with whom and for what form of exercise, and whether the neighbourhood sports facility had increased their physical activities. Reasons for using the neighbourhood sports facility at leisure time were charted as well as what prevented or hampered them from using it.

The respondents were also asked to indicate whether they agreed with a number of statements relating to how well certain goals had been reached in the construction of the neighbourhood sports facility. The goals mentioned included easy access, serving different age groups, offering diversity to the family sports facilities in the community, and so on. Some questions covered opinions on how well the neighbourhood sports facility construction project had succeeded. Finally, the respondents were asked to grade the sports facility.

Background variables included the municipality, whether the facility was in the schoolyard or not, distance between the respondent's home and sports facility, the ages of the parents, years of residence in the area, number of children, type of housing, education (in years) and profession of the parents, and how big a barrier the respondents felt financial factors formed for the physical exercise taken by their children.