Measurement of the Food & Physical Activity Environments:
Enhancing Research Relevant to Policy on Diet, Physical Activity, & Weight
Given the high rates of obesity prevalence in the United States and around the world,
research interest has grown regarding the effects of the community food and physical
activity environments on individual diet and activity behavior. Robust measures of these
environments are required in order to assess any effect.
Measurement of food and physical environments is a relatively young field, although
many "first generation" measures exist. Researchers use a variety of methods to measure
these environments, including survey instruments (self-reported and observed) and
methodologies such as geographic information systems.
To stimulate further progress in this vital research area, NCI, in partnership with the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and other NIH Institutes and Centers, organized the
"Measures of the Food and Built Environments Workshop" in November 2007. The April 2009
supplement to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine reports on the workshop
proceedings.
The supplement highlights the need for:
- better reporting of validity and reliability of measures;
- tailoring or validation of measures for communities of populations at high risk for obesity (e.g., rural, low-income, racial/ethnic minority communities); and
- refinement of conceptual models.
Access individual articles from the supplement:
- Introduction to the Supplement:
- History of measurement of community food and physical activity environments:
- The state of the science of measuring these environments:
- Measurement of the food and physical activity environments of populations at increased risk of obesity and related health conditions:
- Summaries of discussions and recommendations from four workshop breakout groups:
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Complete citation:
Measurement of the Food and Physical Activity Environments -
Enhancing Research Relevant to Policy on Diet, Physical Activity, and Weight. American
Journal of Preventive Medicine. Volume 36, Issue 4, Supplement 1, Pages A1-A6, S81-S190
(April 2009). Edited by Robin A. McKinnon, Jill Reedy, Susan L. Handy and Anne Brown
Rodgers.
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