BOONE, N.C. — If a walk in the park is what the doctor ordered, the team from Appalachian State University’s Healthy Outdoor Play and Exercise (HOPE) Lab has the resources to help fill the prescription.
Faculty and students in the HOPE Lab have collaborated with Park Rx America — a national leader in the park prescription movement — to create a local outdoor recreation database to encourage outdoor physical activity for all ages.
The database includes detailed descriptions, pictures and directions to parks in Watauga and surrounding counties in the Western North Carolina region.
The HOPE Lab team’s work was funded by a grant through the 2018 Chancellor’s Innovation Scholars Program.
Faculty team members Dr. Rebecca Battista and Dr. Richard Christiana in Appalachian’s Department of Health and Exercise Science and Dr. Joy James and Dr. Brook Towner in the Department of Recreation Management and Physical Education identified the need for this database during a previous research study conducted by the HOPE Lab that piloted a pediatrician prescription program for outdoor physical activity.
Prescribing a dose of physical activity in the great outdoors isn’t a new concept, said Battista, a professor who serves as president of the Southeastern Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). ACSM manages a global health initiative — Exercise is Medicine® — that encourages health care providers to include physical activity when designing treatment plans.
Leigh Bernardy, a senior exercise science major from Portland, Maine, was one of the students who gathered information on area parks for HOPE Lab’s Park Rx project. Photo submitted
Appalachian students recorded information for Park Rx America’s website, including area parks’ trail data, natural features, amenities and hours of operation. Photo submitted
“The physician acts as the authority figure,” Battista explained. “We can encourage people to exercise, but a written prescription from a doctor carries more weight.”
In earlier studies, the HOPE lab team worked with area pediatricians, asking them to prescribe outdoor activity for kids.
“The physicians were very receptive, and we wanted to provide a resource for them to make the program as easy as possible,” Battista said. “We downloaded and distributed prescription pads from the Park Rx website along with outdoor recreation maps of the High Country region.”
While the Park Rx America website was a good starting point, with a database of parks across the country and resources for physicians, it was incomplete. Christiana, an assistant professor, said the Chancellor’s Innovation Scholars Program grant was used to assess local outdoor recreation spaces and to contract a website developer to add a program evaluation tool and user-friendly features to the Park Rx site.
“Student researchers traveled to parks and completed assessments to enter into the Park Rx database,” Christiana said. Description data included:
- Park amenities, such as restrooms, picnic tables and grills.
- Pet policies.
- Sports facilities and fields.
- Trail descriptions, including difficulty, trail length, surface and amount of shade.
- Directions to the park and hours of operation.
- Description of other features.
Julian Price Memorial Park and its 47-acre Price Lake, pictured, is included in the HOPE Lab’s Park Rx project’s rich database, which can be used by residents and visitors to find information on area parks. The focus of the project is to get families physically active outside. Photo submitted
It has taken almost two years to establish enough data to enhance the website for the physicians’ use, Battista said.
While the focus of the project is to get families physically active outside, a byproduct is a rich database that can be used by residents and visitors.
“Our next step is to build awareness of the website and resources,” Battista said. “In addition to talking with physicians, we’re also reaching out to visitor centers, chambers of commerce and local libraries.”
Christiana said the lab’s research and programming efforts with Park Rx America have received national and international attention.
“With recent emphasis being placed on the benefits of being outside and in nature from the National Recreation and Park Association, we anticipate our work will continue to be an important component in this initiative,” he added.
What do you think?
Share your feedback on this story.
About the Department of Public Health and Exercise Science
The Department of Public Health and Exercise Science in Appalachian State University’s Beaver College of Health Sciences delivers student-centered education that is accentuated by quality teaching, scholarly activity and service. The department includes two undergraduate academic disciplines: exercise science and public health. The department also offers master’s degrees in exercise science and public health, which prepare students for advanced study in a variety of related fields as well as research. Learn more at https://phes.appstate.edu.
About the Department of Recreation Management and Physical Education
The Department of Recreation Management and Physical Education in Appalachian State University’s Beaver College of Health Sciences is an innovative, diverse and forward-thinking academic unit consisting of two undergraduate programs. The recreation management program prepares students for careers as professionals in three concentrations: commercial recreation and tourism management, outdoor experiential education, and recreation and park management. The health and physical education program prepares students for careers as K-12 health and physical educators, school-based activity directors and coaches. Learn more at https://rmpe.appstate.edu.
About the Beaver College of Health Sciences
Appalachian State University’s Beaver College of Health Sciences (BCHS), opened in 2010, is transforming the health and quality of life for the communities it serves through interprofessional collaboration and innovation in teaching, scholarship, service and clinical outreach. The college enrolls more than 3,600 students and offers 10 undergraduate degree programs, nine graduate degree programs and four certificates across six departments: Nursing, Nutrition and Health Care Management, Public Health and Exercise Science, Recreation Management and Physical Education, Rehabilitation Sciences, and Social Work. The college’s academic programs are located in the Holmes Convocation Center on App State’s main campus and the Levine Hall of Health Sciences, a state-of-the-art, 203,000-square-foot facility that is the cornerstone of Boone’s Wellness District. In addition, the college supports the Appalachian Institute for Health and Wellness and has collaborative partnerships with the Wake Forest University School of Medicine’s Physician Assistant Program, UNC Health Appalachian and numerous other health agencies. Learn more at https://healthsciences.appstate.edu.
About the Chancellor’s Innovation Scholars Program
The Chancellor’s Innovation Scholars Program supports innovative research and practice by Appalachian State University faculty and staff throughout all disciplines and program areas on campus. These internal grants are awarded to Appalachian thought leaders who work creatively and entrepreneurially to address challenges; create lasting institutional change; provide community and societal benefits; establish opportunities that increase student engagement with research, creativity, innovation, design thinking and entrepreneurship; and promote broad-based sustainability in the areas of economics, equity and the environment. The program is intended to complement other innovation initiatives at the university. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu/innovation-scholars.
About Appalachian State University
As a premier public institution, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives. App State is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System, with a national reputation for innovative teaching and opening access to a high-quality, cost-effective education. The university enrolls more than 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and 80 graduate majors at its Boone and Hickory campuses and through App State Online. Learn more at https://www.appstate.edu.
![Is Carb Cycling the Key to Increasing Your Endurance? [faculty featured]](/_images/_posts/2025/06/carb-cycling-600x400.jpg)
![App State researcher develops AI-driven microscope to detect poultry parasites [faculty featured]](/_images/_posts/2025/06/ai-driven-microscope-600x400.jpg)
