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Luisa Soares-Miranda et al. Circulation. 2016;133:147-155

Copyright © American Heart Association, Inc. All rights reserved.



FUNCTION OF:

Walking pace

< 3 km/h to

> 4.8 km/h

Walking distance

0 blocks/wkto

> 49 blocks/wk

PurposeTo examine work-related physical and

mental health amongst Active Commuters to the U of L

Suzanne McIntosh1

Sue Kovach2,1

Shelby Schumaker3,1

Olu Awosoga4

Jon Doan3,1

1HR - Wellness and Recognition 2Finance – Scholarships and Finance3Kinesiology and Phys Ed - Engineering and Human

Performance Lab4Faculty of Health Sciences

University of Lethbridge

Increased wellness amongst Active Commuters

to a newly urban university campus in Alberta

PurposeTo examine work-related physical and

mental health amongst Active Commuters to the U of L

HypothesisActive Commuters would have increased

physical and mental health, plus higher job satisfaction

ParticipantsTargeted sample of active commuters (AC-L)

- “bike rack recruiting” - packages available with towels at FitC

ParticipantsTargeted sample of active commuters (AC-L)

- “bike rack recruiting”- packages available with towels at FitC

Targeted sample of conventional commuters (CC-L)- “parking lot recruiting”- packages available with handbooks at FacO

Participants

- No differences in age or commute time- All AC-L started commute in West Lethbridge- 94% of CC-L commuted in personal vehicle- 81% of CC-L commuted alone

MeasuresWork Ability Index (Tuomi et al., 1998)

- self-report on work-related physical and mental health- target is early identification and intervention- modified for this use

- health conditions with unclear association with work were dropped

MeasuresWork Ability Index (Tuomi et al., 1998)

- self-report on work-related physical and mental health- target is early identification and intervention- modified for this use

- health conditions with unclear association with work were dropped

Job in General Scale, abridged (Ironson et al., 1989)- self-report on satisfaction with job- target is organizational prosperity

- satisfaction is cause, correlate, and effect of organizational success

Results - WAI

Results - WAI

MAINTAIN

SEEK SUPPORT

IMPROVE

Prescribed action(Tuomi et al. 1996)

Results - WAI

- “Very good” WAITOTAL amongst AC-L was result of cumulative small increase on multiple WAIFACTORS

Results - JIG

ConclusionThere is current and future value to

Active Commuting at U of L- associated with higher work ability,

lower frequency illness and absence, and increased job satisfaction

DiscussionThere is growing interest in Active Commuting

“What, if anything, would you like to do in the next year to improve or maintain your health and wellness?” U of L Employee Health and Wellness Surveys, 2012 & 2015

2012 2015

21% 33%POSITIVE

RESPONSE RATE

YEAR

ACTIVELY COMMUTE TO WORK (walk, bike, run)

Suzanne McIntosh1

Sue Kovach2,1

Shelby Schumaker3,1

Olu Awosoga4

Jon Doan3,1

1HR - Wellness and Recognition 2Finance – Scholarships and Finance3Kinesiology and Phys Ed - Engineering and Human

Performance Lab4Faculty of Health Sciences

University of Lethbridge

Increased wellness amongst Active Commuters

to a newly urban university campus in Alberta

A challenge and an opportunity

Active Commuting Suburban-to-Urban Campus

Active Commuting• Personal & work and local & global

benefits– Increased physical activity (Sisson & Tudor-Locke, 2008)

– Decreased sick days (Hendriksen et al., 2010)

– Decreased traffic (and environmental) load (Charles-Edwards et al., 2015)

• Universities are prime target– Workplace explicitly and implicitly affects AC

(Wen et al., 2010)

– Staff and student commuters are universities’ largest environmental impact (Tolley, 1996)

– Academia’s role as leaders and advocates (Shannon et al., 2006)

Suburban Campus

• Academic growth model for UK + Canada, post WWII

• New vision of academic campus as “radical, diffuse, non-residential, vocational”

versus “ancient, enclosed, exclusive, educational”

(Abercrombie, 1974)

• U of L the epitome of this phenomenon in Canada

University of Lethbridge [1967-]

• U of L looking west, 1972

1972 – University Hall opens

1981 – first private home on west side built in 1974

1986 - <8000 people live on west side

1990 – South res. + Whoop-Up overpass complete

1999 - ~15000 people live on west side

2001 – University Library completed

2003 - ~20000 people live on west side

2007 – 1st Choice Fitness Centre opens

2008 – First secondary schools open on west side

2010 – Campus Daycare, Community Stadium open

2014 - >35000 people (40% of Lethbridge population) live on west side

Thanks to U of L Archives

for slide sequence!

To successfully integrate with this urbanization, important for U of L to:

1) Identify the current & future value of Active Commuting

1969

2014

To successfully integrate with this urbanization, important for U of L to:

1) Identify the current & future value of Active Commuting

2) If 1) is positive, champion Active Commuting behaviourand infrastructure

1969

2014

U of L Development Plan [Erickson & Massey, 1969]

WALK“external access is possible to all parts of the campus by means of walks and walkways…a great variety of alternate routes with differing aspects and views are available.”

U of L Development Plan [Erickson & Massey, 1969]

WALK“external access is possible to all parts of the campus by means of walks and walkways…a great variety of alternate routes with differing aspects and views are available.” [Erickson & Massey, 1969]

U of L Campus Master Plan [2012]

WALK

BIKE

“walking as a primary means of movement on campus should be encouraged…bikes should be encouraged on campus.” [U of L CMP, 2012]

U of L Campus Master Plan [2012]

WALK

BIKE

“walking as a primary means of movement oncampus should be encouraged…bikes should be encouraged oncampus.” [U of L CMP, 2012]

stadium entry_point_centre

https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.6694926,-112.8653629,1493m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e3

https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.6732501,-112.8700456,371m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e3

Next steps

Need to push, pull, and nudge open those gates that will connect

Active Commuters to their campus

TEAMSCOMP.

THEME

SCHED.

REWARDSReal

Virtual

PULL

‘Excessive’ parking causes ‘dangerous’ driving (McCahill et al., 2016)

Parking causes driving (McCahill et al., 2016)


TIME ORDER


City centers, 1980


STRENGTH

City centers, 1980

‘Parklets’

Commuting at University of Guelph• 2500 campus bicycle rack slots

• 2147 parking passes!• 20 covered bike shelters• 4 bike repair stations

• 900 buses come to campus daily• 2.3 million people took a bus to or from

U of G in 2014

“When discussing more urban biking, Ioften hear ‘We’re not Copenhagen orAmsterdam!’…..”

Brent Toderian, Vancouver city planner

“When discussing more urban biking, Ioften hear ‘We’re not Copenhagen orAmsterdam!’…..”


ACTIVE COMMUTING

“When discussing more urban biking, Ioften hear ‘We’re not Copenhagen orAmsterdam!’. Decades ago, neither wereCopenhagen or Amsterdam.”


ACTIVE COMMUTING



ACTIVE COMMUTING

Copenhagen, 2015



ACTIVE COMMUTING

Copenhagen, 2015 Beijing, 2015

What can we do

Personally• identify some purposeful walks & rides

around your neighbourhoodthen do them!

• start with 1 ‘different’ commute to work per week

• recognise (and embrace) push/pull/nudge effects

What can we do

Institutionally• be thoughtful about push/pull/nudge

opportunities

• internally support active commuting

• find a way to meet our ‘new’ neighbourhood

Thank you

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