Current Projects

Neighbourhoods and Health

The Neighbourhoods and Health project is part of the HRC funded Health Inequalities Research Programme directed by Professor Tony Blakely at the Wellington School of Medicine, University of Otago. Associate Professor Karen Witten (SHORE) is a co investigator on this project. She is working with Dr Jamie Pearce from the University of Canterbury on those components of the project that are measuring community resource access and modelling and the relationship between neighbourhood access and specific health outcomes.

The overall aims of the project are to determine neighbourhood and community variations in mortality and morbidity, and how much of that variation might be explained by: access to community resources; social capital; and social fragmentation.

Publications

Mavoa, S., Witten, K., Pearce, J., Day, P. (2009) Measuring Neighbourhood Walkability in New Zealand Cities. Auckland: Centre for Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Massey University

Stevenson, A., Pearce, J., Blakely, T., Ivory, V., Witten, K. (2009). Neighbourhoods and health: A review of the New Zealand literature. New Zealand Geographer, 65, 211-221 A240

Badland, H., Schofield, G., Witten, K., Schluter, P., Mavoa, S., Kearns, R., Hinckson, E., Oliver, M., Kaiwai, H., Jensen, V., Ergler, C., McGrath, L. & McPhee, J. (2009) Understanding the Relationship between Activity and Neighbourhoods (URBAN) Study: research design and methodology. BMC Public Health 9 (224) doi:10.1186/1471-2458-9-224. A238

Pearce, J., Hiscock, R., Blakely, T. & Witten, K. (2008) The contextual effects of neighbourhood access to supermarkets and convenience stores on individual fruit and vegetable consumption. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 62, 198-201. A230

Hiscock, R., Pearce, J., Blakely, T. & Witten, K. (2008) Is neighborhood access to health care provision associated with individual-level utilization and satisfaction? Health Services Research 43(6), 2183-2200. A227

Pearce, J., Witten, K., Hiscock, R. & Blakely, T. (2008) Regional and urban - rural variations in the association of neighbourhood deprivation with community resource access: a national study. Environment and Planning A 40:2469-2489. A223

Pearce, J., Hiscock, R., Blakely, T. & Witten, K. (2008) A national study of the association between neighbourhood access to fast food outlets and the diet and weight of local residents Health and Place, doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2008.04.003 A215

Witten, K., Hiscock, R. , Pearce, J. & Blakely, T. (2008) Neighbourhood access to open spaces and the physical activity of residents: A national study. Preventive Medicine, doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2008.04.010 A214

Pearce J, Day P, Witten K. 2008. Neighbourhood provision of food and alcohol retailing and social deprivation in urban New Zealand.  Urban Policy and Research 26 213-227 A213

Witten, K., McCreanor, T., Kearns, R. (2007) The place of schools in parents' community belonging. New Zealand Geographer 63 141-148. A202

Pearce, J., Blakely, T., Witten, K., Bartie, P. (2007) Neighborhood deprivation and access to fast-food retailing: a national study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 32(5): 375-382. A198

Pearce, J., Witten, K., Hiscock, R., Blakely, T. (2006) Are socially disadvantaged neighbourhoods deprived of health-related community resources? International Journal of Epidemiology 36 348-355. A195

*McCreanor, T., Penney, L., Jensen, V., Witten, K., Kearns, R., Moewaka Barnes, H. (2006) 'This is like my comfort zone': Senses of place and belonging within Oruamo /Beachhaven New Zealand. New Zealand Geographer 62 196-207. A191

*Kearns., R., McCrenaor, T., Witten, K. (2006) Healthy communities, in: Thompson-Fawcett, M. and Freeman, C. (eds.) Living Together: Towards Inclusive New Zealand Communities. Dunedin, Otago University Press, pp.241-257. SB42

Witten, K. (2006) Getting places in New Zealand neighbourhoods, in: Brebbia, C. and Dolezal, V. (eds.) Urban Transport XII: Urban Transport and the Environment in the 21st Century. Southhampton, Boston: WIT Press, pp. 567-578. SB38

*Pearce, J., Witten, K., Bartie, P. (2006) Neighbourhoods and health: a GIS approach to measuring community resource accessibility. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 60, 389-395. A186

*Kearns, R., McCreanor, T., Witten, K. (2005) Linking health, place and healthy communities, Territoris 5, 189-203. A183

*Field, A., Witten, K., Robinson, E., Pledger, M. (2004) Who gets to what? Access to community resources in two New Zealand cities. Urban Policy and Research, 22, 189-205. A160

*Witten, K., McCreanor, T., Kearns, R. (2003) The place of neighbourhood in social cohesion: insights from Massey, West Auckland. Urban Policy and Research, 21, 321-338. A154

*Witten, K., Exeter, D. and Field, A. (2002) The quality of urban environments: Mapping variation in access to community resources. Urban Studies 40, 161-177. A144

*Witten, K., Parkes, M. & Ramasubramanian, L. (2000) Participatory Environmental Health Research in Aotearoa/New Zealand Constraints and Opportunities. Health Education & Behavior, 27, 371-384. A120