Ruth F Hunter
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 163020 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Ruth F Hunter |
| PRENOMES | Ruth F |
| SOBRENOME | Hunter |
| ASSINATURA | HUNTER R F |
| AFILIAÇÕES | Queen's University Belfast |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7315-0382 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 59 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 30 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 59 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2013 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 3 |
Long-term follow-up of the public health impacts and co-benefits of an urban greenway intervention
BACKGROUND: Evidence on the long-term impact of urban green and blue spaces (UGBS) interventions remains limited. This study is a 15-year evaluation of an urban greenway development in Belfast (United Kingdom), assessing the potential effects of this UGBS intervention on physical activity (PA), mental wellbeing and co-benefits. METHODS: Using natural experimental design, a repeated cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2010 (baseline), 2017 (po…
Changes in health inequalities before and after a major urban greenway intervention
BACKGROUND: Evidence concerning health inequalities following urban green and blue space UGBS) interventions is limited. This study examined the changes in health inequalities after a major urban regeneration project, the Connswater Community Greenway (CCG), in Belfast, UK. METHOD: Cross-sectional household surveys were conducted in 2010/11 (baseline), 2017/18 (immediately after completion), and 2023/24 (long-term follow-up) with a sample of appr…
Mediation analysis investigating the mechanisms of two school-based smoking prevention interventions in adolescents from Northern Ireland and Bogotá
Background Reviews have highlighted a lack of evidence on how successful intervention strategies for adolescent smoking prevention can be effectively adapted for low-middle income countries (LMICs). The MECHANISMS study compared behavioral mechanisms between two school-based smoking prevention programs for adolescents in Northern Ireland (NI; a high-income setting) and Bogotá, Colombia (middle-income). ASSIST works via peer education and diffusio…
The green gap framework
Despite the well-documented benefits of engaging with nature, up to a quarter of the UK population rarely utilises their urban greenspaces. This is despite evidence that those who engage the least with greenspace could derive the most significant health benefits from such interactions. Addressing this gap is a focus of the GroundsWell consortium, a large research programme that aims to transform access to urban green and blue spaces to improve he…
Relationship between long-term exposure to sources of particulate matter, ambient air pollution and cognitive function in older adults
Long-term exposure to particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 μm (PM 2.5 ) is associated with cognitive decline, but it is not clear whether the potential effects of PM 2.5 from different emission sources vary. This study aims to assess the association between PM 2.5 from different emission sources and cognitive function in older adults in Northern Ireland. Using data of the Northern Ireland Cohort of Longitudinal Ageing from wave 1 (…
Green space, life-course socioeconomic disparities and cognitive function in later life
There is evidence that green space may reduce socioeconomic disparities in health (‘equigenesis’). However, it is still unclear whether such a finding is also valid for cognitive function in older adults. Therefore, using data from the Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal Study of Ageing, this study examines whether exposure to green spaces reduces the effect of socioeconomic disparities in cognitive function in later life. It uses the No…
How Do Awareness, Perceptions, and Expectations of an Urban Greenway Influence Residents’ Visits and Recreational Physical Activity? Evidence From the Connswater Community Greenway, Belfast, Northern …
The development of an urban greenway as part of a major regeneration project may encourage usage and recreational physical activity (PA). However, how the awareness and perceptions of such a project influence the usage of the greenway and recreational PA after regeneration remains unclear. This study focused on these relationships in the context of a major urban regeneration project, the Connswater Community Greenway (CCG) in Belfast, Northern Ir…
Green space exposure and active transportation during the Covid-19 pandemic
INTRODUCTION: There is little evidence investigating the association between green space (exposure and inequality) and active transportation during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study focused on the spatial heterogeneity in trajectories of different transportation modes during the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, as well as the association between green space exposure and inequality and active transportation during the COVID-19 pandemic from a global p…
Internationally Validated Open Access Indicators of Large Public Urban Green Space for Healthy and Sustainable Cities
Large public urban green spaces (LPUGS) provide multiple health and environmental co‐benefits by mitigating urban heat, improving air quality and biodiversity, and promoting physical activity, social interactions, and mental wellbeing. There is a lack of accessible, evidence‐informed, and internationally validated LPUGS indicators to assist with benchmarking and monitoring progress toward healthy and sustainable cities globally. This study develo…
Process evaluation of Project Daire
The original trial referenced in this process evaluation is registered as follows: National Institute of Health (NIH) U.S. National Library of Medicine Clinical Trials.gov (ID: NCT04277312; retrospectively registered 11th February 2020)
Factors contributing to food choice in the UK secondary school food setting
Objective: To co-develop a systems map of the UK secondary school food system and to understand what factors contribute to food choice within it. Design: Participatory methods were used with a range of UK school stakeholders to co-produce a systems map of factors contributing to food choice in the secondary school food system. An online survey with stakeholders ( n 26) was used to gather an initial list of factors, and a group model-building work…
Effects of city design on transport mode choice and exposure to health risks during and after a crisis
Sharing common measures of the environment across continents
Harmonized measures facilitate cross-country comparisons of environmental exposures but require careful consideration of confounding by place and time and differential measurement to ensure robust inferences
A systematic review of horticultural therapy and urban agriculture interventions targeting depression, anxiety, and acute stress disorder
Mental ill-health is a major concern in urban settings, particularly in relation to conditions such as depression, anxiety and acute stress disorder. Research has demonstrated the potential for horticultural therapy (HT) interventions that draw on urban agriculture practices and methods to address this issue. However, there is a paucity of evidence to support the potential for these interventions for individuals with pre-existing diagnoses. The a…
Future-proofing cities against negative city mobility and public health impacts of impending natural hazards
Built environment influences on park visits for older adults
Methods for interventions using networks to improve health
The methods used to study and intervene in networks have evolved over the past 90 years. Network research has gained strength from being an interdisciplinary field, but this has also meant that the innovations occurring within some disciplinary communities may not have disseminated to others. Disciplines focussing on health improvement may not have adopted innovations coming from other disciplines relevant to network science. Through a review of …
Economic evaluations of urban green and blue space interventions
While a number of studies have estimated the economic value of existing urban green and blue spaces (UGBS), few studies have attempted to value the impact of new UGBS interventions. We set out to identify primary studies in both peer-reviewed and grey literature that conducted economic evaluations of UGBS interventions, and to critically assess the methods and tools employed. We searched seven bibliographic databases to identify peer-reviewed stu…
The contribution of urban green and blue spaces to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals
Urban green and blue spaces (UGBS) have the potential to make a significant contribution to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Research shows the need for UGBS to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of urbanisation and provide equitable access to resources that reduce social and health inequalities. However, no previous review has attempted to consolidate this evidence within the context of the SDGs. The aim of this …
Effect of 20 mph speed limits on traffic injuries in Edinburgh, UK
INTRODUCTION: There is limited research evaluating 20 mph speed limit interventions, and long-term assessments are seldom conducted either globally or within the UK. This study evaluated the impact of the phased 20 mph speed limit implementation on road traffic collisions and casualties in the City of Edinburgh, UK over approximately 3 years post implementation. METHODS: We used four sets of complementary analyses for collision and casualty rates…
Selection homophily and peer influence for adolescents’ smoking and vaping norms and outcomes in high and middle-income settings
The MECHANISMS study investigates how social norms for adolescent smoking and vaping are transmitted through school friendship networks, and is the first study to use behavioral economics methodology to assess smoking-related social norms. Here, we investigate the effects of selection homophily (the tendency to form friendships with similar peers) and peer influence (a social process whereby an individual’s behavior or attitudes are affected by p…
Exploring mechanistic pathways linking urban green and blue space to mental wellbeing before and after urban regeneration of a greenway
Urban regeneration of urban green and blue spaces (UGBS) is assumed to benefit residents’ mental wellbeing. However, the mechanistic pathways linking UGBS to wellbeing before vs. after regeneration remain unclear. This study assessed the mediating roles of subjective perceptions of the environment and instoration indicators (social capital and physical activity) linking UGBS proximity and mental wellbeing along the Connswater Community Greenway (…
UK Nurses Delivering Physical Activity Advice
There are a multitude of health benefits gained from regular physical activity (PA). Currently, PA advice implementation from NHS nurses is inadequate despite their ever-increasing role in lifestyle and preventive medicine. By assessing their knowledge of current PA guidance, this study proposed to investigate the issues with regular PA advice being given and expand upon nurses' proposed barriers and solutions. A qualitative approach using semi s…
Capturing the whole-school food environment in primary schools
Objective: The school food environment (SFE) is an ideal setting for encouraging healthy dietary behaviour. We aimed to develop an instrument to assess whole-SFE, test the instrument in the school setting and demonstrate its use to make food environment recommendations. Design: SFE literature and UK school food guidance were searched to inform instrument items. The instrument consisted of (i) an observation proforma capturing canteen areas system…
The British and Anglo-Irish thing-essay from 1701 to 2021
Ethical Issues in Social Media Research for Public Health
Social media (SM) offer huge potential for public health research, serving as a vehicle for surveillance, delivery of health interventions, recruitment to trials, collection of data, and dissemination. However, the networked nature of the data means they are riddled with ethical challenges, and no clear consensus has emerged as to the ethical handling of such data. This article outlines the key ethical concerns for public health researchers using…
Simulating network intervention strategies
This study uses simulation over real and artificial networks to compare the eventual adoption outcomes of network interventions, operationalized as idealized contagion processes with different sets of seeds. While the performance depends on the details of both the network and behaviour adoption mechanisms, interventions with seeds that are central to the network are more effective than random selection in the majority of simulations, with faster …
Participatory theme elicitation
Participatory Theme Elicitation (PTE) is a new approach to increasing user-involvement in qualitative data analysis. In this five-step method, participants independently identify themes in the data using open card sorting, and are supported in their development of a set of themes that reflect all participant views. We describe and evaluate PTE with a case study, where nine lay researchers identified five core themes in qualitative data from an on…
Social cohesion emerging from a community-based physical activity program
Community-based physical activity programs, such as the Recreovía, are effective in promoting healthy behaviors in Latin America. To understand Recreovías’ challenges and scalability, we characterized its social network longitudinally while studying its participants’ social cohesion and interactions. First, we constructed the Main network of the program’s Facebook profile in 2013 to determine the main stakeholders and communities of participants.…
Hidden” Social Networks in Behavior Change Interventions
We investigated whether “hidden” (or unobserved) social networks were evident in a 2011 physical activity behavior change intervention in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Results showed evidence of unobserved social networks in the intervention and illustrated how the network evolved over short periods and affected behavior. Behavior change interventions should account for the interaction among participants (i.e., social networks) and how such interact…
Investigating the impact of a 20 miles per hour speed limit intervention on road traffic collisions, casualties, speed and volume in Belfast, UK
BACKGROUND: Evidence regarding the effectiveness of 20 miles per hour (mph) speed limit interventions is limited, and rarely have long-term outcomes been assessed. We investigate the effect of a 20 mph speed limit intervention on road traffic collisions, casualties, speed and volume at 1 and 3 years post-implementation. METHODS: An observational, repeated cross-sectional design was implemented, using routinely collected data for road traffic coll…
Exploring lay views on physical activity and their implications for public health policy. A case study from East Belfast
Future-proofing cities against negative city mobility and public health impacts of impending natural hazards
Methods for interventions using networks to improve health
The methods used to study and intervene in networks have evolved over the past 90 years. Network research has gained strength from being an interdisciplinary field, but this has also meant that the innovations occurring within some disciplinary communities may not have disseminated to others. Disciplines focussing on health improvement may not have adopted innovations coming from other disciplines relevant to network science. Through a review of …
The contribution of urban green and blue spaces to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals
Urban green and blue spaces (UGBS) have the potential to make a significant contribution to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Research shows the need for UGBS to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts of urbanisation and provide equitable access to resources that reduce social and health inequalities. However, no previous review has attempted to consolidate this evidence within the context of the SDGs. The aim of this …
A qualitative exploration of the mechanisms, pathways and public health outcomes of a city centre 20mph speed limit intervention
Developing agent-based models of complex health behaviour
Managing non-communicable diseases requires policy makers to adopt a whole systems perspective that adequately represents the complex causal architecture of human behaviour. Agent-based modelling is a computational method to understand the behaviour of complex systems by simulating the actions of entities within the system, including the way these individuals influence and are influenced by their physical and social environment. The potential ben…
Demand response to improved walking infrastructure
Physical activity and the rejuvenation of Connswater (Parc study)
The Connswater Community Greenway provides a significant opportunity to achieve long-term, population level behaviour change. We argue that urban regeneration may be conceptualised meaningfully as a complex intervention comprising multiple components with the potential, individually and interactively, to affect the behaviour of a diverse population. The development and implementation of our comprehensive evaluation framework reflects this complex…
A lesson in business
The Physical Activity Loyalty card (PAL) scheme is potentially cost-effective from both a healthcare and employer's perspective but further research is warranted to reduce uncertainty in our results. It is based on a sustainable "business model" which should become more cost-effective as it is delivered to more participants and can be adapted to suit other health behaviors and settings. This comes at a time when both UK and US governments are enc…
Validity of the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) in assessing levels and change in moderate-vigorous physical activity and sedentary behaviour
Levels of agreement with objective measurements indicate the GPAQ is a valid measure of MVPA and change in MVPA but is a less valid measure of current levels and change in SB. Thus, GPAQ appears to be an appropriate measure for assessing the effectiveness of interventions to promote MVPA
Exploring lay views on physical activity and their implications for public health policy. A case study from East Belfast
Individual factors and perceived community characteristics in relation to mental health and mental well-being
Self-rated health was associated with both mental health and mental well-being. Of the individual social capital explanatory variables, 'social connections' was more important for mental well-being. Although similarities in the explanatory variables of mental health and mental well-being exist, socio-ecological interventions designed to improve them may not have equivalent impacts in rich and poor neighbourhoods
The impact of interventions to promote physical activity in urban green space
Hidden” Social Networks in Behavior Change Interventions
We investigated whether “hidden” (or unobserved) social networks were evident in a 2011 physical activity behavior change intervention in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Results showed evidence of unobserved social networks in the intervention and illustrated how the network evolved over short periods and affected behavior. Behavior change interventions should account for the interaction among participants (i.e., social networks) and how such interact…
Demand response to improved walking infrastructure
Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a physical activity loyalty scheme for behaviour change maintenance
ISRCTN17975376 (Registered 19/09/2014)
Time to ‘re-think’ physical activity promotion for young people? Results from a repeated cross-sectional study
Knowledge did not appear to be an important predictor of PA in young people. Consequently, threshold based messaging containing recommended minimum PA guideline information may not be appropriate for this age group. Re-branding PA promotion to include the use of humour may offer a new direction for public health messaging based around fun and enjoyment
Effectiveness of physical activity interventions in achieving behaviour change maintenance in young and middle aged adults
Walking on sunshine
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Walking has well-established positive relationships with, and effects on, physical health. In contrast, while poor mental health contributes substantially to global health burden, an overview of the benefits from walking has not previously been published. We aimed to scope the literature and present what is known, and highlight what is not known, about walking and mental health. METHODS: Design: Scoping review. DATA SOURCES…
Study protocol
The HULAP study has been designed and implemented by a multi-disciplinary team and integrates differing methodologies to purposefully impact on policy and practice on healthy ageing in high and low-middle income countries. It has particular strengths in its combination of objective and self-reported measures using validated tools and the integration of GPS, accelerometer and GIS data to provide a robust assessment of 'spatial energetics'. The str…
Association between time preference, present-bias and physical activity
Results demonstrated that discount rate and present-biasedness have a significant impact on physical activity levels. Such concepts have been largely overlooked and underutilized in physical activity interventions. Promising implications include 1) utilizing individuals' time preferences to better target interventions; 2) taking account of time preferences in the intervention design; 3) interventions attempting to correct for present-biasedness
Physical activity and behaviour change
Physical inactivity levels are rising globally. In response, public health investigators have sought to design and implement effective interventions to raise levels of physical activity in populations, communities and individuals. Usually, such interventions are built around theories of behaviour change in which notions of motivation and incentivisation loom large. Drawing on focus group evidence derived in the context of a cluster RCT aimed at i…
Developing agent-based models of complex health behaviour
Managing non-communicable diseases requires policy makers to adopt a whole systems perspective that adequately represents the complex causal architecture of human behaviour. Agent-based modelling is a computational method to understand the behaviour of complex systems by simulating the actions of entities within the system, including the way these individuals influence and are influenced by their physical and social environment. The potential ben…
Ethical Issues in Social Media Research for Public Health
Social media (SM) offer huge potential for public health research, serving as a vehicle for surveillance, delivery of health interventions, recruitment to trials, collection of data, and dissemination. However, the networked nature of the data means they are riddled with ethical challenges, and no clear consensus has emerged as to the ethical handling of such data. This article outlines the key ethical concerns for public health researchers using…
Simulating network intervention strategies
This study uses simulation over real and artificial networks to compare the eventual adoption outcomes of network interventions, operationalized as idealized contagion processes with different sets of seeds. While the performance depends on the details of both the network and behaviour adoption mechanisms, interventions with seeds that are central to the network are more effective than random selection in the majority of simulations, with faster …
Social network interventions for health behaviours and outcomes
The importance of social environment in preventing smoking
The analysis provides additional evidence to support policies that could reduce children's exposure to smoking behaviour, and potential subsequent smoking initiation. No conclusions could be drawn about the diffusion of smoking attitudes through the school friendship networks of children
Built environment correlates of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in older adults
Peer social network processes and adolescent health behaviors
Mechanisms Study
This proof of concept study harnesses novel transdisciplinary insights to contrast two school-based smoking prevention interventions among adolescents in the UK and Colombia. We compare schools in these locations because smoking rates and norms are different, in order to better understand social norms based mechanisms of action related to smoking. We aim to: 1) improve the measurement of social norms for smoking behaviors in adolescents and revea…
Effects of a Physical Activity Program Potentiated with ICTs on the Formation and Dissolution of Friendship Networks of Children in a Middle-Income Country
This paper assesses the potential cohesion effect of a physical activity (PA) school-based intervention potentiated using text messages (SMS) through analyzing longitudinally the friendship network structure and the mechanisms of the formation and dissolution of friendships. Three schools ( n = 125 participants) in Bogotá, Colombia, were randomly assigned into three groups: Modulo Activo Recreo Activo (MARA) + SMS (networks 1 and 2), MARA (networ…
Study of active neighborhoods in Detroit (StAND)
Registration: OSF Preregistration registered March 31, 2020. Accessible from https://osf.io/surx7
Medicine (33 obras) · Psychology (28 obras) · Psychological intervention (22 obras) · Public health (22 obras) · Computer Science (16 obras) · Environmental health (16 obras) · Urban Transport and Accessibility (15 obras) · Engineering (14 obras) · Biostatistics (13 obras) · Urban Green Space and Health (13 obras)