Reliability and validity of mapping the community food environment using direct observation: a case study in urban Guatemala (255.4)

Abstract

Background: Measures of the community nutrition environment are important to understanding the food environment, which affects individual diet.Objective: To determine the reliability and validity of direct observation as a low‐cost method in mapping a food environment in Guatemala.Methods: Two teams of two raters were asked to walk two urban thoroughfares in urban Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Both teams were instructed to record the address, food outlet type, and the main items sold by each food outlet. Teams walked each thoroughfare on separate days and in opposite directions, respectively. Mirror‐image correspondence analysis was used to determine the inter‐rater reliability between teams. The validity of direct observation in mapping a community food environment in Quetzaltenango was determined based on the face validity of this work by two experts who also walked the same thoroughfares.Results: The inter‐rater reliability between teams was moderate for both thoroughfares A and B (Percent agreement 65% and 60%), respectively. The face validity of this work was classified as also being moderate.Conclusions: In Guatemala, where store listings are incomplete and addresses are not well‐marked, we have shown that direct observation is a low‐cost method that has the potential to be both reliable and valid to map the community food environment in a low‐ and middle income country.