From: Assessment of environmental correlates of physical activity: development of a European questionnaire
Measure/Country of origin | Type and number of environmental items | Physical activity | Population samples used with measure | Assessment of metrics of measures & Scale | Findings/Notes |
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Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS) (NQLS) USA | Original NEWS (98 items) assessed perceptions of residential density (house type), land use density (walk access to grocery stores, video stores, post offices and fast food restaurants), land use mix-access (shops and parking available locally), street connectivity, walking/cycling facilities Self report via mail | Walking – NEWS Global measure of physical activity plus domains – NQLS | USA and number of international studies for adults | NEWS item scores ranged from 0.58–0.80 (Saelens et al, 2003) Intra class correlations for NEWS ranged from 0.41–0.93 (Brownson et al, 2004) NEWS possessed adequate levels of factorial and criterion validity (Cerin et al, 2006) Scale defined in different dimensions - by time to walk to - 10–15 minute walk - neighbourhood | Papers hint at considerable differences which emerged when the measure was applied to urban and rural participants NEWS is a popular measure of walkability – unsure of its applicability in Europe |
Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (ANEWS) Shorter version USA | Shortened version (49 items) assessed perceptions of residential density (house type), land use density (walk access to grocery stores, video stores, post offices and fast food restaurants), land use mix-access (shops and parking available locally), street connectivity, walking/cycling facilities Self report via mail | Walking – NEWS | USA and number of international studies for adults | NEWS-A possessed adequate levels of factorial and criterion validity (Cerin et al, 2006) Scale defined in different dimensions - by time to walk to - 10–15 minute walk - neighbourhood - within a 5 minute drive or a 10 minute walk from work or home | As above |
IPAQ environmental module (IPAQE) USA then International | This measure (17 items) has 7 core, 4 recommended and 6 optional items, covering similar items to NEWS and NQLS. Also included walking access to a public transport transit service, include cost and low cost to access to places to be active and seeing other active in neighbourhood Self report via mail or telephone | Global measure of physical activity | Random sample of Swedish adults (IPS) | Test-retest reliability testing with 98 Swedish adults ICC: 0.41–0.96 (men) 0.27–0.98 (women) Scale Neighborhood, easy walking distance with 10–15 mins | |
Cycling for Transport (C4T) Austria | This measure (25 items) assessed perceived environmental attributes of cycling for transportation. This includes functional, safety, aesthetics, destination and home neighbourhood features Self report via mail | Cycling | Sample of Suisse students | - Factor analysis, - Test-retest reliability testing with 32 students Scale – on journey to and from university | - Reduced 25 to 23 items, (6 factors + 5 single items) Cronbach α: 0.39–0.66 -Agreement 0.62–0.89 |
Perceptions of local environment (PLE) UK Awaiting assessment | This measure (16 items) assessed perceptions of the local area and access to personal transport Self report via mail | Walking and cycling | 1322 households in Glasgow | Test – retest reliability (N = 23) Scale in my local area | 0.55–0.89 (one item 0.21) |
Active 4 Life (A4L) perceptions of environment and walking UK | This measure (10 items) assessed access to green space, local shops, safety (day and night), Aesthetics, traffic, access to sports facilities and social support Self report via face to face interviews | Walking | Random sample of UK adults aged 16–74 years | No reported assessment of validity or reliability. Scale defined by neighbourhood | Response to this measure was differentiated by gender |
Residential Environment and Coronary Disease (RECORD) France | This measure (14 items) assessed availability to local facilities, places for walking, aesthetics, safety from traffic and safety from crime. All items were formulated negatively. Self report via mail | Walking & sport |