Project 460952

Youth with chronic medical and mental health conditions (CMC) have low rates of physical activity that may stem, in part, from barriers to accessing programming and infrastructure. Our objective is to (1) identify barriers to physical activity participation in youth with CMC and (2) propose local solutions to combat these barriers. Our collaborative group, which includes pediatric exercise researchers, pediatricians, community health organizations, policy makers, children/youth with CMC and their parents, proposes to accomplish this through a community research-centered approach that draws upon the Delphi technique and nominal groups methodologies. We will use group consensus processes specifically to identify practical ways to support the active living needs of youth with CMC residing in Toronto. These priorities will serve as catalyst for future collaborations within our group, with a goal of creating a template for healthy cities oriented towards supporting the needs of youth with CMC.