Foundations of Community Health: Planning Access to Public Facilities

Abstract

While shared use agreement strategies help provide community access to public facilities, the application of this strategy is often an afterthought to community planning and thus, community health. Alternatively, an emerging trend in community health sets an appropriate stage to address community needs by establishing a framework in which various stakeholders build a shared use policy strategy in land use from the onset of development. The application of collaborative community planning as a fundamental component of community health is demonstrated in four case examples from Australia, Canada, and the United States. The qualitative comparative results in the case studies suggest that the partnership framework offers an opportunity to achieve improved community health outcomes. Cumulatively, analysis of a limited number of available shared use performance indicators demonstrates an important need for the development of measurable metrics, reporting, and tracking in which data sharing becomes a necessary element of policy.

Glossary

Community

A group of people living in a common location or sharing a certain set of attributes; used in this context to refer to the citizens who share a stake in the subject area.

Facilitation

The act of easing communication and collaboration among various groups and/or individuals.

Greenfield development

Construction on previously undeveloped land that has never been used, often outside the boundaries of existing urban infrastructure and buildings.

International Classification of Diseases (ICD)

An international standard for coding and terminology for medically diagnosed diseases or injuries (e.g., 250.00 Diabetes Mellitus, Type II, without complication); in Fig. 7.2, diabetes would be an example of a noncommunicable, chronic disease.

Likert scale

Measures a level of agreement or disagreement with a given statement; normally incremental in 3, 5 or 7 depending on the method of statistical analysis (agree, neither agree or disagree, or disagree is an example of a 3-point Likert scale).

Ordinal

A categorical data type used in survey research to rank variables; response scales can be Yes/No (dichotomous) or have multiple values such as in a Likert scale.

Quality of life

The general well-being of a society and its members, largely dependent on physical, social, economic, and other indicators that either positively or negatively affect one’s satisfaction with life.

Recreational facilities

A physical building or space that provides opportunities for physical activity and leisure, such as a walking path, swimming pool, running track, or sports field; used most often in this context about publicly available spaces.

Shared use or joint use

An agreement, either formal or informal, between two or more entities that enables the collective use of a facility or property by different groups; most commonly referenced in this context to describe an agreement between a school district and its respective municipal leaders that allows community use of a school building or property.

Structural equation modeling (SEM)

Data elements are portrayed graphically; advanced method of statistical analysis where survey responses to exogenous (independent, predictor, X) variables can be measured for statistical significance against endogenous (dependent, outcomes, Y); the fundamental algebraic relationship between exogenous and endogenous variables in Fig. 7.2 is that Health Status = f (Sleep + Sedentary Behavior + Physical Activity + Nutrition) or y = f(x _n) + measurement error.

Urban sprawl

Unconstrained spread of development and human populations outside of a centralized urban core, which often results in suburbanized, low-density, and car-dependent populations.