Barriers to and facilitators of physical activity among public park visitors

The Objective was to analyze the barriers to and facilitators of physical activity (PA) among visitors of an public park in Parana, and to determine the association of these factors with sociodemographic variables. 220 park visitors reported sociodemographic data and perception of the environment. Descriptive statistics, chi-square and Fisher's exact tests were used (p<0,05). Results: a) The incidence of rain and air pollution were considered to be barriers; b) The beauty, geographic location of the park, technical and architectonic factors, normative policies, values and attitudes were perceived as facilitators; c) geographic beauty of the park and emergency services were associated with age; d) air pollution, equipment available, emergency services and traffic regulation were associated with the economic level of the visitors. Thus, environmental factors related to the park seem to be important for the execution of PA, but their perception depends on the age and economic conditions of the subjects.