Erica Hinckson

Auckland University of Technology | AUT · School of Sport and Recreation

Urban liveability is a global priority for creating healthy, sustainable cities. Measurement of policy-relevant spatial indicators of the built and natural environment supports city planning at all levels of government. Analysis of their spatial distribution within cities, and impacts on individuals and communities, is crucial to ensure planning de...

The purpose of this study was to examine how wellbeing is associated with the setting in which sport participation takes place and the breadth of sport participation. Demographic charac�teristics (age, gender, ethnicity, deprivation, (dis)ability status), recreational physical activity, and wellbeing were assessed in cohorts of adolescents (11–17 y...

The benefits of walking are now well understood. However, there is still no consensus on what causes people to forego short walking trips. This study examined users’ perceptions on trips usually walked, as well as perceptions of desirable trips within walking distance but not walked. 56 adults with diverse disability statuses and ages, living in Au...

Purpose Urban environments and transport systems can enable and encourage walking, and therefore play a key role in climate action, public health, equity of access, and population wellbeing. The question, especially in cities that have been dominated by car traffic, is how? The challenge is heightened by the multidisciplinary involvements in the de...

Purpose In urban areas, shifting trips to walking contributes to physical activity and independent movement, but also climate action and noise reduction. While research on walkability has made significant progress, there is still no consensus on what people perceive as barriers. This study examined the barriers as perceived by 56 adults with divers...

Chronic stress impacts workplace wellbeing. To counter this, stress recovery and attention restoration theories assert a need for nature connection. However, the impacts of environmental design typologies are poorly understood. This research sought to explore the potential of salutogenic design as a stress-reducing health promotion tool for ‘appare...

Walkability is much studied, but the relative importance of perceptions and motivations is still not consensual. This study took a holistic approach to examine the comparative importance of a range of possible perceptions, motivations and individual characteristics on walking levels. Data from Auckland Transport's Active Modes online survey (AT sur...

Growing socioeconomic and structural disparities within and between nations have created unprecedented health inequities that have been felt most keenly among the world’s youth. While policy approaches can help to mitigate such inequities, they are often challenging to enact in under-resourced and marginalized communities. Community-engaged partici...

Introduction Only international studies can provide the full variability of built environments and accurately estimate effect sizes of relations between contrasting environments and health-related outcomes. The aims of the International Physical Activity and Environment Study of Adolescents (IPEN Adolescent) are to estimate the strength, shape and...

Active school travel contributes to children’s physical, mental and social wellbeing. The prevalence of children’s active school travel, however, has been declining in many developed countries. Gaining insights into school culture and environments in relation to school travel behaviour is crucial to inform interventions. Using a multiphase mixed me...

The built environment is known to influence walking behaviours, but how it exerts its influence is less clear. A variety of tools and scales have been proposed to measure the environment, walking behaviour and their associations. None of these tools are perfect, and some are calibrated for specific demographics, such non-disabled middle-aged adults...

Background Despite national-level initiatives to encourage active transport (AT) in New Zealand since 2005, rates of AT have continued to decline in most parts of the country, with negative impacts on health and the environment. This article describes the development of key policy recommendations for increasing AT in New Zealand. The goal was to es...

A significant body of evidence exists on walking as a behaviour. The socio-ecological framework outlines multi-level influences encompassing individual, social/ organizational, and environmental aspects. “Walkability” is much discussed, but it is not clear what characteristics of the built environment (BE) contribute to it: a variety of scales, too...

A significant body of evidence exists on walking as a behaviour. The socio-ecological framework outlines multi-level influences encompassing individual, social/ organizational, and environmental aspects. “Walkability” is much discussed, but it is not clear what characteristics of the built environment (BE) contribute to it: a variety of scales, too...

Background: The IPEN International Physical Activity and Environment Network Adolescent project was conducted using common study protocols to document the strength, shape, and generalizability of associations of perceived neighborhood environment attributes with adolescents' physical activity and overweight/obesity using data from 15 countries. Co...

Introduction: Active transport (AT) contributes to human and environmental health but is low and declining in New Zealand (NZ) children and youth. Quality evidence is necessary to inform and evaluate interventions, identify inequities, and understand trends. NZ has participated in the Global Physical Activity (PA) Matrix since 2014. This collaborat...

Plan of approach The quality of the street environment is known to contribute to walkability. Its importance and its components are however debated, and it is often broadly absent from walkability indices such as WalkScore(TM). Understanding how quality might deter from walking is crucial to help cities prioritise improvements of the walking realm...

This research investigated New Zealand adolescents' (aged 11 to 13, N = 361) perceptions of wellbeing from a prototype perspective. Specifically, three studies examined what constitutes and promotes wellbeing, whether adolescents' perspectives are aligned with adults' conceptualizations and academic models of wellbeing, whether socioeconomic status...

Background: Despite national-level efforts to encourage active transport in New Zealand since 2005, rates of active transport have continued to decline in most parts of the country, with negative impacts on health and the environment. / Purpose: We describe the development of key policy recommendations for active transport in New Zealand as an outc...

Registered methodology. Information under: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/display_record.php?RecordID=132319

Background Active school travel (AST) is influenced by multiple factors including built and social environments, households and individual variables. A holistic theory such as Mitra’s Behavioural Model of School Transportation (BMST) is vital to comprehensively understand these complex interrelationships. This study aimed to assess direct and indir...

This systematic review summarised and evaluated the evidence for associations between school travel modes in children aged 5-13 years and perceived physical environments as well as social and sociodemographic characteristics. A computerised electronic search was performed for English articles published between January 2000 and July 2017. Data were...

Background: There is accumulating evidence supporting the association between neighborhood built environments and adults' physical activity (PA) and sedentary time (ST); however, few studies have investigated these associations in adolescents. A better understanding of the features of the built environment that encourage PA or ST is therefore of c...

Public open spaces (POS) are key neighbourhood destinations for children, providing opportunities for meaningful experiences (i.e. affordances) and independence. This study aimed to explore children’s experiences and perceptions of neighbourhood POS in order to understand POS affordances for children’s independent mobility (CIM). This study utilise...

Objectives We estimated associations between objectively determined neighbourhood ‘walkability’ attributes and accelerometer-derived sedentary time (ST) by sex, city or type of day. Design A cross-sectional study. Setting The URBAN (Understanding the Relationship between Activity and Neighbourhoods) study was conducted in 48 neighbourhoods across...

Background Physical inactivity across the lifespan remains a public health issue for many developed countries. Inactivity has contributed considerably to the pervasiveness of lifestyle diseases. Government, national and local agencies and organizations have been unable to systematically, and in a coordinated way, translate behavioral research into...

Background Advancements in geographic information systems over the past two decades have increased the specificity by which an individual’s neighborhood environment may be spatially defined for physical activity and health research. This study investigated how different types of street network buffering methods compared in measuring a set of common...

Background: In this article, we report the grades for the second New Zealand Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth, which represents a synthesis of available New Zealand evidence across 9 core indicators. Methods: An expert panel of physical activity (PA) researchers collated and reviewed available nationally representative surv...

Children spend between 50 and 70 % of their time sitting while at school. Independent of physical activity levels, prolonged sitting is associated with poor health outcomes in adulthood. While there is mixed evidence of health associations among children and adolescents, public health guidelines in the USA, UK, Australia and Canada now recommend yo...

Background Urban design may affect children’s habitual physical activity by influencing active commuting and neighborhood play. Purpose Our objective was to examine associations between neighborhood built-environment features near children’s homes and objectively measured physical activity. Methods We used geographical information system (GIS) prot...

Promoting active travel modes has the potential to improve health outcomes, enhance social capital, and reduce traffic related congestion whilst also providing economic benefits. With this focus in mind, Auckland׳s transport agency developed a series of School Travel Plan (STP) initiatives in Auckland schools as part of the Travel Wise for Schools...

Purpose To investigate the contribution of objectively measured light, moderate and vigorous physical activity to body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference-to-height ratio (WCHt) in adolescents. Methods A total of 694 adolescents (12–18 years) from six secondary schools in Auckland and two in Wellington, New Zealand, participated in the Built E...

The number of smartphone- and tablet-applications, or apps, for health and wellbeing continues to grow at a rapid pace. This scoping study identified articles reporting on the use of apps by and with individuals with autism. Professionals and parents of children with autism also completed a questionnaire as part of stakeholder consultation. Of the...

This study investigated the effects of epoch length and cut point selection on adolescent physical activity intensity quantification using vertical axis and vector magnitude (VM) measurement with the ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer. Four hundred and nine adolescents (211 males; 198 females) aged 12-16 years of age wore accelerometers during waking ho...

Sport participation is an issue of relevance to sport managers, yet it is an often-neglected area of sport management research. Cycling is a particularly complex form of participation to examine given its many formats, including sport, recreational and commuter cycling, and the multifaceted nature of the cycling landscape involving a broad range of...

Background: The purpose of this systematic review was to determine the relationship between a wide range of physical environmental characteristics and different contexts of active transportation in 6- to 12-year-old children across different continents. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in six databases (Pubmed, Web of Science, Cinahl,...

Muslim women in New Zealand form an ethnic and religious minority. Research related to the physical activity levels of these women and their health status is sparse, particularly in the New Zealand context. International literature shows that Muslim women are at risk of various diseases related to inactivity. Islam, the religion followed by Muslims...

Background The aim of this study was to determine the associations between body size and built environment walkability variables, as well as the mediating role of physical activity and sedentary behaviours with body size. Methods Objective environment, body size (body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC)), and sedentary time and physical act...

The distance between home and school is the most consistent predictor of active transport in youth: the closer an individual lives to school, the more likely they are to use active transport. While this suggests that it is preferable to live as close to school as possible, the limited physical activity accumulated during short trips may not offer s...

A reduction in sedentary behaviour (e.g. the length of time spent sitting) may prevent or reverse childhood obesity. The effectiveness of a ‘dynamic classroom’ environment in increasing standing and reducing sitting time in children was determined. A controlled trial with 26 (n = 18 intervention) New Zealand children (aged 9.8 ± 0.4 years; mean ± S...

Promoting active travel modes is a logical way to improve health outcomes, enhance social capital, and reduce traffic related congestion. With this focus in mind, Auckland’s transport agency developed a series of School Travel Plan initiatives in primary, intermediate, and secondary schools as part of the TravelWise for Schools programme. The initi...

Objective: To investigate the effect of interrupting sitting time with intermittent moderate exercise on acute postprandial plasma triglyceride (TG) in healthy children following high-fat meal consumption. Methods: Twelve participants (8 girls; 4 boys), aged 12 ± 2 years (mean ± SD), completed two trials in the laboratory. On Day 1 (d1), sitting wa...

We examined the content validity of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ Young Child Self-report (PedsQL™-YC) in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability and made recommendations for the development of a quality of life (QOL) measure. Ten children, 14 parents, and three teachers were recruited for focus groups an...

Understanding attributes of the built environment that influence children's and adolescents' habitual physical activity can inform urban design. To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies linking aspects of the built environment with youth moderate-vigorous activity, including walking. The PubMed, Embase, and Cumulative Index to Nu...

Sedentary behavior is associated with overweight and obesity in children, and distance to school has been negatively associated with active commuting to school. It is not known how distance to school relates to sedentary behavior in children. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between distance to school and children's sedentar...

Background: Physical activity (PA) has been consistently implicated in the etiology of obesity, whereas recent evidence on the importance of sedentary time remains inconsistent. Understanding of dose-response associations of PA and sedentary time with overweight and obesity in adults can be improved with large-scale studies using objective measure...

Background Active transport (e.g., walking, cycling) to school (ATS) can contribute to children’s physical activity and health. The built environment is acknowledged as an important factor in understanding children’s ATS, alongside parental factors and seasonality. Inconsistencies in methodological approaches exist, and a clear understanding of fac...

Environmental changes are potentially effective population-level physical activity (PA) promotion strategies. However, robust multi-site evidence to guide international action for developing activity-supportive environments is lacking. We estimated pooled associations of perceived environmental attributes with objectively-measured PA outcomes; betw...

Built-environment interventions have the potential to provide population-wide effects and the means for a sustained effect on behaviour change. Population-wide effects for adult physical activity have been shown with selected built environment attributes; however, the association between the built environment and adolescent health behaviours is les...

To review the use of quality of life (QOL) measures utilised in children and youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Relevant articles were identified through database searches using MEDLINE, CINAHL Plus with Full Text and SPORTDiscus with Full Text via EBSCO Health Database, PsycINFO and ProQuest Health and Medicine (from 2000 to May 2013). Ori...

As inactivity and obesity levels continue to rise, calls are being made for sport development action to be further directed towards capitalising on the value of community participation for health and social benefits. This paper seeks to highlight a current disconnect between physical activity and sport management research, and identify opportunitie...

Background The IPEN (International Physical Activity and Environment Network) Adult project seeks to conduct pooled analyses of associations of perceived neighborhood environment, as measured by the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS) and its abbreviated version (NEWS-A), with physical activity using data from 12 countries. As IPEN co...

In children and youth with disability, the risk of obesity is higher and is associated with lower levels of physical activity, inappropriate eating behaviors, and chronic health conditions. We determined the effectiveness of a program in managing weight, through changes in physical activity and nutrition behaviors in overweight and obese New Zealan...

b>Background : The IPEN (International Physical Activity and Environment Network) Adult project seeks to conduct pooled analyses of associations of perceived neighborhood environment, as measured by the neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS) and its abbreviated version (NEWS-A), with physical activity using data from 12 countries. As IPE...

Background: Quantification of sitting and standing is possible with the ActivPAL accelerometer, using algorithms to classify activity into time spent sitting, standing and stepping. The purpose of this study was to determine children's week-to-week differences in time spent sitting/lying and standing along with other measures as provided by the Ac...

Accurate measurement of the patterns and intensity of physical movement isessential when making inferences about health outcomes of activity participation.Accelerometers are the devices of choice for objective measurement of duration,frequency and intensity of physical activity within the daily life of free-living childrenand adults. An acceleromet...

To explore the perceptions of primary school aged children (n=9) and parents (n=21) from areas of socioeconomic deprivation in New Zealand in order to determine the factors which influence healthy and overweight children's after school activities. We held focus groups with children, utilising photo-voice prompts for discussion. Focus groups and sem...