From walkability to active living potential: an "ecometric" validation study.
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.
Gauvin
Lise
L
Groupe de recherche interdisciplinaire en santé (Interdisciplinary Research Group on Health), University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. lise.gauvin.2@umontreal.ca
Richard
Lucie
L
Craig
Cora Lynn
CL
Spivock
Michaël
M
Riva
Mylène
M
Forster
Mathieu
M
Laforest
Sophie
S
Laberge
Suzanne
S
Fournel
Marie-Chantal
MC
Gagnon
Hélène
H
Gagné
Suzie
S
Potvin
Louise
L
D004779:Environment Design; D015444:Exercise; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012449:Safety; D016138:Walking