The tool was originally developed to assess environments in urban and rural North Carolina. Researchers are encouraged to use the instrument in other geographic areas to confirm their applicability to different locations.

The Active Where? Study was designed to develop measures to understand how the physical environment impacts physical activity and eating behaviors related to chronic diseases, such as obesity, among children and youth. This study started with individual interviews with children and parents 'in situ', thus allowing researchers to observe and interact with youth while using neighborhood and park environments. This formative work was designed to generate appropriate items.

A set of quantitative survey measures was developed to assess home, neighborhood, park, and school environments to...

The Rural Active Living Assessment (RALA) tools include three separate components: 1) Town-Wide (18 town characteristic questions, and inventory of 15 recreational amenities), 2) Program and Policy (20 questions), and 3) Street Segment (28 questions) Assessments. These three assessment instruments are designed to be used together and provide a comprehensive measure addressing many of the unique factors believed to be important to active living in rural communities.

The RALA tools were developed using an evidence-informed framework and substantial input from rural residents, and they...

To determine how physical characteristics of trails may influence use, reliable and valid audit tools are needed. The Path Environment Audit Tool (PEAT) was developed with design, amenity, and aesthetics/maintenance items. Two observers independently audited 185 trail segments at 6 Massachusetts facilities. GPS-derived items were used as a "gold standard." Kappa (k) statistics, observed agreement and ICCs were calculated to assess inter-observer reliability and validity. Fifteen of 16 primary amenity items had k-values > 0.49 ("moderate") and all had observed agreement > 81%. Seven...