Green exercise is physical activity in outdoor natural spaces and increasingly it has been studied for it's hypothesized specific benefits for health and potential co-benefits for pro-environmental behaviour (Rogerson et al., 2019). This sustainable type of physical activity can occur in a wide range of natural settings from parks to wilderness (Donnelly & MacIntyre, 2019). Evidence for the benefits of green exercise point to the limited literature using robust methodologies (Lahart et al., 2019). Nevertheless, this low-risk nature-based intervention has merits under COVID-19 scenarios where access to many gym and sport facilities are restricted. How have researchers measured frequency, intensity, time, type and setting of green exercise in the past? What inventories are available for this purpose? Are there new and emerging methodological techniques that can advance measurement?
Refs
Donnelly A A & MacIntyre, TE (2019). Physical activity in natural settings: Green and blue exercise. NY: Routledge.
The Green Exercise Concept: Two intertwining pathways to health and well-being
M Rogerson, J Barton, J Pretty, V Gladwell
Physical Activity in Natural Settings: Green and Blue Exercise, 73 - 93
Lahart, I., Darcy, P., Gidlow, C., & Calogiuri, G. (2019). The Effects of Green Exercise on Physical and Mental Wellbeing: A Systematic Review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(8), 1352. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16081352
Flowers et al have developed a TPB-based instrument to assess beliefs and future GE intention
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320220968_The_Development_of_Three_Questionnaires_to_Assess_Beliefs_about_Green_Exercise
Regarding methodologies, including ones that work at community (population) level, I would point you to our recent article on the subject, entitled 'Mobile physical activity planning and tracking: a brief overview of current options and desiderata for future solutions', and freely available at http://mhealth.amegroups.com/article/view/38687/pdf
or on RG at Article Mobile physical activity planning and tracking: a brief over...
I think that only relying on users' self-reporting/users' diaries, logs and questionnaires to document exercise location/time, type, duration and intensity is likely to prove insufficient and inaccurate in most scenarios (see, for example, Prince SA, Adamo KB, Hamel ME, et al. A comparison of direct versus self-report measures for assessing physical activity in adults: a systematic review. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2008;5:56).
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