Cross-cultural adaptation, content validity, and feasibility of the school physical activity and nutrition environment tool

Abstract

ObjectiveTo perform a cross-cultural adaptation, content validity and feasibility of The School Physical Activity and Nutrition Environment Tool (SPAN-ET) for the Spanish context. It is a valuable tool for making comprehensive assessments of school environments in three environmental categories: policy, situation/social, and physical. MethodWe followed the cross-cultural adaptation guidelines which consist of a five-stage methodological approach: 1) forward translation, 2) synthesis, 3) back translation, 4) adaptation to the Spanish context, and 5) pilot testing. In addition, an expert panel performed a content validity analysis to assess the level of comprehensibility, applicability, and cultural appropriateness of the SPAN-ET for its use in Spain. The pilot test was carried out in five schools to assess the feasibility of the tool in the Spanish context. ResultsAfter applying the guidelines for the translation and cultural adaptation of the SPAN-ET into the Spanish context, the new tool (SPAN-ET-ES) preserves the main dimensions of the original document to evaluate school environments in Spain. The evaluation of the SPAN-ET-ES, done by an expert panel, concluded that items included in the revised version of the SPAN-ET-ES were relevant (S-CVI/Ave=0.96), clear (S-CVI/Ave=0.96), simple (S-CVI/Ave=0.98), and non-ambiguous (S-CVI/Ave=0.98) for the Spanish context. Finally, the pilot test offered empirical evidence for the feasibility and content validity of the SPAN-ET-ES at assessing school environments in Spain. ConclusionsSPAN-ET-ES is a feasible tool for assessing nutrition and physical activity environments at schools in Spain.