title: From walkability to active living potential: an "ecometric" validation study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of this paper is to establish the reliability and validity of a neighborhood-level measure of active living potential by applying principles of ecometrics.
  
  
  METHODS
  Following a 3-day training session, observers (n =8) were provided with a map of a predetermined walking route constructed through the joining of ten randomly selected street blocks. Then, using an 18-item observation grid, pairs of observers performed ratings of 112 neighborhoods. Resulting observations produced a hierarchically structured data set including 4032 observations nested within observers, which in turn were nested within neighborhoods. Data from the 2001 Canadian census were linked to the neighborhood data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Application of ecometric multilevel modeling analyses showed that once interitem and interobserver variability were statistically controlled, about one third of the variability in observations were at the between-neighborhood level. Reliability estimates were 0.78 for items measuring activity-friendliness, 0.76 for safety, and 0.83 for density of destinations. Assessment of the convergent validity of the instrument identified that safety of the environment was positively associated with neighborhood affluence. Density of destinations was negatively associated with affluence and positively associated with higher proportions of persons in the neighborhood walking to work.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The three dimensions of the neighborhood active-living potential measure have good reliability and convergent validity and are able to capture between neighborhood differences. Measurement characteristics would have been difficult to ascertain without the ecometrics methodology.
authors.affiliation: Groupe de recherche interdisciplinaire en santé (Interdisciplinary Research Group on Health), University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. lise.gauvin.2@umontreal.ca
authors.forename: Lise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gauvin
authors.forename: Lucie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Richard
authors.forename: Cora Lynn
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Craig
authors.forename: Michaël
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Spivock
authors.forename: Mylène
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Riva
authors.forename: Mathieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Forster
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Laforest
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Laberge
authors.forename: Marie-Chantal
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Fournel
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gagnon
authors.forename: Suzie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gagné
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Potvin
mesh_terms: D004779:Environment Design; D015444:Exercise; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012449:Safety; D016138:Walking