Abstract
BackgroundSome aspects of the neighborhood built environment may influence residents’ physical activity, which in turn, affects their health. This study aimed to develop an urban built environment evaluation tool and conduct necessary reliability and validity tests.MethodsA 41-item urban built environment scan tool was developed to objectively assess the neighborhood built environment features related to physical activity. Six neighborhoods in Hangzhou were selected from three types of administrative planning units. A pair of auditors independently assessed all of the 205 street segments at the same time. Half of the segments (n = 104) were audited twice by the same auditor after a two-week time interval. Inter-rater reliability was assessed by comparing the audits of paired observers, while intra-rater reliability was evaluated by comparing an auditor’s repeated assessments of the same segments. The construct validity was tested using factor analysis.ResultsThe inter-rater reliability for most items was above 0.8. The intra-rater reliability for most items was above 0.4, and was lower than corresponding inter-rater reliability. Six factors were extracted by factor analysis and the factor loading matrix showed good construct validity.ConclusionsThe CUBEST is a reliable and valid instrument that can be used to assess the physical activity-related built environment in Hangzhou, and potentially other cities in China.
Highlights
Some aspects of the neighborhood built environment may influence residents’ physical activity, which in turn, affects their health
Three types of data are usually used to measure built environment attributes believed to be related to physical activity: (1) perceived measures obtained by personal interview with questionnaire; (2) observational measures obtained using systematic scans or audits; and (3) archival data sets that are often layered and analyzed with GIS [6]
Two districts located in a central geographic location of Hangzhou were included to test the reliability and validity of the China Urban Built Environment Scan Tool (CUBEST), i.e., Shangcheng District and Xiacheng District
Summary
Some aspects of the neighborhood built environment may influence residents’ physical activity, which in turn, affects their health. A growing number of studies have focused on the ecological context of physical activity [4], i.e. the influence of the residential built environment on physical activity patterns [5]. The built environment—the physical form of communities usually consists of 6 dimensions: (1) residential density; (2) street connectivity; (3) accessibility to destinations (land-use mixed) and services; (4) walking and cycling environment; (5) aesthetic quality; and (6) safety. Together, these elements shape access to opportunities for physical activity. Three types of data are usually used to measure built environment attributes believed to be related to physical activity: (1) perceived (subjective) measures obtained by personal interview with questionnaire; (2) observational (objective) measures obtained using systematic scans or audits; and (3) archival data sets that are often layered and analyzed with GIS [6]
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