SHIFT - Study of Health In Families in Transition to New Town


Background
This study takes advantage of a “natural experiment,” the development of The New Town at St. Charles (New Town), to help answer important questions about the link between neighborhood environments, physical activity, and health. New Town is a new, high density, mixed-use development in St. Charles, MO. It is one of the fastest growing neo-traditional neighborhood‡ developments in the United States known to date. This study employs objective measures of physical activity, travel behavior, air pollution generation, land use patterns and transportation options to examine changes in physical activity behavior and other health outcomes before and after moving to New Town.

Research Aims
Primary Aim:

• Examine how moving to New Town affects recreational and transportation physical activity behavior.

Secondary aims:

• Examine whether moving to New Town improves other health outcomes, such as intention to be physically active, body mass index, and quality of life.
• Assess changes in travel behavior and air pollutants generated after moving to New Town.
  

Methods
This three-year study uses a pre-post, quasi-experimental study design to examine neighborhood environmental exposures, physical activity behavior, secondary outcomes, and important covariates before individuals move to New Town and approximately 4-6 months and 18 months after individuals move to New Town. Self-administered mail-back surveys, accelerometers, and travel diaries will be used to assess participants’ physical activity patterns and travel behavior. Geographic information systems (GIS) databases will be developed for assessing built environment measures.

Innovation and Use of Findings
A moving study such as this is critical to understanding the extent to which individual preferences or the built environment, or both, shape our travel and physical activity patterns. The pre-post study design and objective measurements of behaviors and environment provide the capacity to begin to disentangle these factors and assess if there is a causal relationship between the built environment and physical activity. This study has the potential to accelerate policy change with respect to promoting community enhancements that promote walking and bicycling.

Funding
This study is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For more information contact: Cheryl Carnoske, RD, Saint Louis University School of Public Health, 3545 Lafayette Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63104; 314.977.8255; carnoske@slu.edu

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‡ Neo-traditional neighborhoods are compact communities designed to encourage bicycling and walking for short trips by providing sidewalks and destinations close to home and work. The grid-like street networks promote connectivity and short walking distances.