The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #66415

Christine M. Hoehner, MSPH¹, Laura K. Brennan, PhD¹, Ross C. Brownson, PhD¹, Rebeka A. Cook, BS¹, Montenia Q. Anderson, BS¹, Brandi D. Meriwether, BS¹, Michael B. Elliott, PhD¹, and C. Tracy Orleans, PhD². (1) Prevention Research Center, Saint Louis University School of Public Health, 3545 Lafayette Ave., Salus Center, St. Louis, MO 63104, 314-977-3287, hoehnerc@slu.edu, (2) The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Route 1 and College Road East, Princeton, NJ 08543

The escalating obesity rates coupled with the high prevalence of physical inactivity in the United States indicate a need to yield new insights concerning the role of a community’s environment in supporting active living. We assessed the Indicators of Activity Friendly Communities to examine their association with physical activity in two U.S. cities. Telephone surveys and neighborhood audits were carried out in high and low poverty areas in St. Louis, Missouri (representing “low walkability”) and Savannah, Georgia (representing “high walkability”). The telephone survey was conducted among a representative sample of residents within each area and provided physical activity and perceived community environmental measures. The neighborhood audits employed sophisticated handheld data collection units with global positioning capabilities to link audit measures with each street segment. Data collected from the audits along with existing data sources were linked to the addresses of the telephone respondents to permit triangulation. The preliminary results include descriptive comparisons between measures collected by the telephone surveys, audits, and existing data sources. The specific measures represent the following indicator domains: land use environment, transport environment, facilities, aesthetics, and social environment. In addition, bivariate associations of these measures and physical activity behavior are described. Telephone surveys and community audits serve as valuable methods to assess the Indicators of Activity Friendly Communities for surveillance, evaluation, and research purposes. This presentation describes each of the methods, their corresponding measures, the process of triangulating data collected through these various methods, and the associated analytic techniques.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of this session, the participant in this session will be able to:
• Discuss the purposes, strengths, and limitations associated with conducting surveys and linking data from multiple data sources to assess community environments
• Describe community environmental characteristics that correlate with physical activity behavior

Keywords: Physical Activity, Environment

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.