An instrument to assess the obesogenic environment of child care centers.
OBJECTIVE
To describe protocol and interobserver agreements of an instrument to evaluate nutrition and physical activity environments at child care.


METHODS
Interobserver data were collected from 9 child care centers, through direct observation and document review (17 observer pairs).


RESULTS
Mean agreement between observer pairs was 87.26% and 79.29% for the observation and document review, respectively. Items with lower agreement were primarily staff behavior, counting across the day/week, and policy classifications.


CONCLUSIONS
Although some revisions are required, the interobserver agreement for the environment and policy assessment and observation (EPAO instrument) appears to be quite good for assessing the nutrition and physical activity environment of child care centers.
Ward
Dianne
D
The University of North Carolina, Schools of Public Health and Medicine, Department of Nutrition, CB #7400, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7400, USA. dsward@email.unc.edu
Hales
Derek
D
Haverly
Katie
K
Marks
Julie
J
Benjamin
Sara
S
Ball
Sarah
S
Trost
Stewart
S
D002654:Child Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015444:Exercise; D006801:Humans; D009657:North Carolina; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009765:Obesity / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019370:Observation / Q000379:methods*; D015588:Observer Variation; D016134:Organizational Policy; D012107:Research Design