ParkSeek: Linking young Canadians to parks and recreational resources using geo-targeted messaging in a smartphone application

Introduction and Context 

The ParkSeek study aimed to identify barriers to youth (aged 13-25) engagement with parks and recreational resources via a novel geographic ecological momentary assessment (GEMA). However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation, substantial challenges were encountered in the recruitment of youth to participate in the originally designed study. Therefore, a broader approach was adopted for the research which would still focus on the Sport Participation Research Initiative (SPRI) target areas of increasing participation in sport, improving overall system performance for sports, and increasing economic and social development through sport. During 2020 and 2021, park use substantially increased year-round as compared to pre-pandemic levels in Canada. This increased use was hypothesized to be driven by people compensating for lost opportunities to partake in physical activity or engage in social connections that were otherwise not possible. Indeed, public health agencies actively encouraged Canadians to use parks as a way to protect their mental wellbeing. 

Methods 

The research activities consisted of identifying the amount of park space available per person in the twelve ParkSeek focus communities across Canada. Parks are the most common setting for recreational sport activities in Canada. However, many youth-oriented recreational sport activities were cancelled during the pandemic. Therefore, a sample of youth (n=279) were surveyed in London, Ontario about changes to their mental health and stress levels, as well as, identifying the availability of parks surrounding them. Finally, some youth participants were recruited for the GEMA study, but not enough to undertake a meaningful subgroup analysis. 

Key Findings and Implications 

The park availability research investigated the geographic patterns of park locations in Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick; Guelph to Goderich, Ontario; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Kentville, Nova Scotia; London, Ontario; Montréal, Quebec; North Vancouver, British Columbia; Prince Albert, Saskatchewan; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ontario; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The World Health Organization’s [WHO] guidance on park space availability for health recommends a minimum of 9m² per person, and ideally 50 m² per person, of park space in each developed area. In addition, the WHO recommends at least one park be within 300 metres of each residence, conceptualized in our project at the dissemination block level. Park space availability is crucial for supporting youth opportunities to engage in recreational sport. The availability of parks is less than ideal in many communities, with rural areas seeing the highest rates of poor availability (Table 1). 

Table 1. Park access and ideal park space per capita in ParkSeek focus communities 

The survey research in London, Ontario found the availability of parks in the immediate area surrounding the homes of responding youth had no bearing on the change in their mental health or stress levels at the start of the pandemic. The decline in the mental health of boys was the most troubling finding from the survey, which is hypothesized to be driven by a loss of access to social opportunities that were available through recreational sport at school. Meanwhile, fast food outlets had a protective effect for mental health regardless of gender. In short, while park use increased at a population-level during the pandemic, youth did not experience the same benefits.  

Strengths and Limitations 

The park availability results should not be construed as representative of the opportunity to engage in recreational sport among all youth. The survey results should not be interpreted as representative of the Canadian youth population. Instead, this research provides a valuable snapshot into the factors correlated with the opportunities for recreational sport participation among youth. Future research and programming design should consider how to recover from the negative impacts to youth sport participation that was experienced during the pandemic, as well as, seizing the opportunity to design new modern programming and physical spaces that are attractive to youth. 

Conclusions and Next Steps 

The findings suggest local policymakers and practitioners in the SPRI ecosystem could play a role in addressing recreational youth sport participation through the following actions: 

• Directly incorporating youth perspectives in designing recreational sport programming. 
• Creating similar socialization opportunities in a recreational sport context, which often include food, drinks and leisure together, that are provided by private ‘third places’ outside of school. 
• Providing more tailored social and cultural programming to youth (13-25) by municipal governments, as is done for younger children and older adult populations. 
• Consider how digital platforms prominently display information about food-based outlets that are available in local neighbourhoods, and replicate for the promotion of recreational sport.  

The unobserved impact of parks, yet significant impact of privatized third places like fast-food outlets, suggest these spaces may provide more to youth than recreational sport. Learning from these more successful places in youth lives could have positive social and economic impact to the sport sector.