Does Playground Improvement Increase Physical Activity among Children? A Quasi-Experimental Study of a Natural Experiment

Table 1

Children’s playground usage in intervention Park A and comparison Park B, pre- and postintervention, expressed as mean number of children per 2-hour observation period.

	Boy		Girl		Total children
	Pre^a	Post	Pre^a	Post	Pre^a	Post
Intervention Park A*	3.95 (4.68)	5.33 (5.92)	5.05 (5.41)	4.62 (6.30)	4.50 (5.03)	4.98 (6.05)
Comparison Park B	7.76 (8.30)	7.71 (6.91)	9.29 (11.59)	5.67 (6.37)	8.52 (9.99)	6.69 (6.64)

Note: Data included observations from scans performed every 30 minutes during three 2-hour periods on 5 weekdays and 2 weekend days; 𝑛 = 84 scans for Park A and Park B (preintervention), and 80 for Park B post intervention. *In Park A at followup, three scan areas included play equipment; these three scans were combined as one for comparison purposes. Means were compared via a generalized linear model, with significance set at 𝑃 < 0.05. ^aA significant difference was found between parks.