Adaptation and evaluation of the neighborhood environment walkability scale for youth for Chinese children (NEWS-CC)

Gang He,Jo Salmon,Wendy Huang,Stephen H S Wong

doi:10.1186/s12889-021-10530-4

Abstract

BackgroundThe physical activity-environment relationship has been infrequently investigated in Chinese children. Reliable and valid environmental measures specific to the age group and the local context are crucial for better understanding this relationship. The purposes of this study were to adapt the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale for youth (NEWS-Y) for Chinese children (termed NEWS-CC), and to examine the reliability and factorial validity of the NEWS-CC.MethodsThe development of the NEWS-CC involved the translation of the NEWS-Y to Chinese and the addition of nine new items capturing Hong Kong specific environmental attributes which were generated in our previous study. A total of 953 Hong Kong children aged 9–14 years volunteered to complete the NEWS-CC twice with 7–14 days apart. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to examine the factorial validity of the NEWS-CC. Test-retest reliability of subscales and individual items in the NEWS-CC was examined by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs).ResultsThe CFA identified a 7-factor measurement model for the NEWS-CC which fitted the data well, with an additional “pollution” factor not included in the original NEWS-Y. The final NEWS-CC consisted of 67 items in 10 subscales. The test-retest reliability of subscales (range of ICC = 0.47–0.86) and individual items (range of ICC = 0.41–0.79) in the final NEWS-CC was moderate to good.ConclusionThe results of this study support the psychometric properties of the NEWS-CC. The NEWS-CC can be used to assess physical activity-related neighborhood environment among children in Hong Kong, as well as cities that share similar urban forms with Hong Kong.

Highlights

The physical activity-environment relationship has been infrequently investigated in Chinese children
Nine items were excluded from the a priori model, i.e. dogs/animals fouling, difficult to park in shopping malls, hilly streets, walking barriers, high crime rate, too many vehicles, low traffic speed, speeding drivers, and fresh air
The model fit of the respecified Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS)-CC was acceptable in terms of the model fit indices of goodness-of-fit index (GFI), comparative fit index (CFI), SRMR, and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) being met and the nonnormed fit index (NNFI) achieving a marginal level (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

The physical activity-environment relationship has been infrequently investigated in Chinese children. The purposes of this study were to adapt the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale for youth (NEWS-Y) for Chinese children (termed NEWS-CC), and to examine the reliability and factorial validity of the NEWS-CC. The benefits of regular physical activity (PA) [1] and the negative impacts of excessive sedentary behavior (SB) [2] on the health outcomes have been extensively documented for school-aged children. The World Health Organization recommends children to achieve at least 60 min of moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA (MVPA) daily and limit the amount of sedentary time [3]. Based on a recent national survey with a representative sample of Chinese school-aged children, only 13.1% reported to have 60 min of MVPA daily [5]. China has been undergoing rapid urbanization and urban sprawl which may have profound and lasting impacts on residents’ lifestyle, including the PA behaviors of children [7]

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