Active Where? Surveys

Abstract

The Active Where? Surveys were developed as part of a collaborative research effort designed to quantify the relationship between the physical environment and health behaviors among children and youth. Specifically, the instrument measures how surroundings—including home, neighborhood, park, and school environments—influence physical activity and eating behaviors related to chronic diseases such as obesity. The development involved initial qualitative, ‘in situ’ interviews followed by the creation and testing of robust quantitative self-report measures applicable across a wide range of youth ages. The resulting instrument supplements existing adult measures and enhances the capacity for large-scale environmental health research.

Keywords

physical activity, environmental assessment, children, youth, obesity prevention, health behaviors, neighborhood environment, self-report measures

Authors

Researchers affiliated with the collaborative Active Where? Study, including teams from San Diego, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and Boston Children’s Hospital.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Active Where? Surveys is to provide standardized, reliable measures for assessing the environmental determinants of physical activity and eating behaviors in young populations. This instrument fills a crucial gap by offering youth-relevant measures that can be utilized in large-scale national and international studies, complementing existing adult-focused scales.

A key objective during development was to ensure the measures were adaptable for use across different developmental stages, allowing for completion by parent-child dyads, parent-adolescent dyads, or independently by adolescents, thereby increasing the utility and scope of environmental health research concerning chronic diseases.

Construct

The scale measures the perception and reality of the immediate physical environment as it relates to health behaviors. The constructs explored are multi-dimensional, assessing environmental features that either facilitate or impede healthy lifestyles. These dimensions include:

• The availability, accessibility, and quality of resources for physical activity within the neighborhood, including parks and public spaces.
• Aspects of the home environment that influence dietary choices and activity levels, often completed by parents or guardians.
• The characteristics of the school environment relevant to promoting or hindering healthy behaviors.

This comprehensive approach recognizes that behavior change interventions must address environmental context, not just individual motivation, particularly when targeting complex issues like youth obesity.

Validity

While specific quantitative validity metrics (such as concurrent or predictive validity) are not detailed in the source abstract, the scale development process emphasized strong content validity. The initial phase of the study involved extensive qualitative, ‘in situ’ interviews with children and parents. This formative work was crucial for item generation, ensuring that the survey content was derived directly from the experiences and language of the target population, thereby maximizing the relevance and appropriateness of the environmental measures.

Reliability

Reliability testing was a core component of the scale development process. A comprehensive reliability study was executed across three distinct U.S. cities, including San Diego, Cincinnati, and Boston. This multi-site approach significantly enhanced the generalizability of the findings across diverse geographic and demographic contexts.

The psychometric results indicated that the majority of the developed self-report environmental measures demonstrated strong performance in terms of reliability, suggesting stability and consistency. Further detailed information regarding specific reliability coefficients and methodologies can be found in the associated Reliability Report.

Factor Analysis

Information regarding the specific factor structure, including results from exploratory or confirmatory factor analysis, was not detailed in the provided source material. Given the instrument’s design to assess four distinct physical environments (home, neighborhood, park, and school), it is highly likely that the structure is multi-factorial, aligning with these specified environmental domains.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report quantitative survey measures

Format: Written questionnaire/Survey items designed for youth and parent administration

Language Available: English (Primary testing conducted in U.S. cities)

Population Group: Children and youth

Age Group: Wide range of ages (Applicable across children and adolescents)

Population Details: Utilized with parent-child dyads, parent-adolescent dyads, or adolescents completing the surveys independently, depending on age and required environmental domain assessment.

Test Methodology: Initial qualitative phase involving ‘in situ’ observation and interviews, followed by the development and rigorous psychometric testing (reliability study) of the quantitative survey items.

Keywords

environmental determinants, self-report instruments, chronic disease prevention, public health, youth assessment, physical activity promotion, obesity research

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: Contact information for the lead investigative sites (San Diego, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and Boston Children’s Hospital) should be used for formal correspondence.

Correspondence Address: Refer to the primary research institutions involved in the collaborative Active Where? Study.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: Permissions status for use of the scale is not specified. Researchers seeking to implement the instrument should contact the collaborating institutions for formal usage agreements and licensing details.

Fee: Not specified.

Test Year: The specific year of initial scale publication and psychometric testing is not provided in the source material.

Reference’s

The primary references are publications resulting from the Active Where? Study research collective. Specific citation details were not provided in the source content, but core academic publications detailing the scale development and reliability testing should be consulted.

Items of the Active Where? Surveys

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The specific items comprising the Active Where? Surveys were not included in the provided source documentation. The surveys assess environment characteristics related to home, neighborhood, park, and school settings, focusing on features that influence physical activity and eating behaviors.