TY - JOUR
T1 - Reliability assessment of the 'field audit for children's active transport routes to school' (FACTS) tool
AU - Vasey, Thomas V
AU - Dale, Michael J
AU - Carroll, Suzanne J
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge the National Roads and Motorists Association (NRMA), the Australian Government Research Training Program, and the valuable contribution and support of the project\u2019s expert panel and industry partner.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.
PY - 2024/10/14
Y1 - 2024/10/14
N2 - BACKGROUND: Children's active travel to school is associated with physical activity and thus health. Safe Routes to School (SR2S) programs identify 'safe routes' to promote children's active travel to school. No field audit tool exists specifically to assess the microscale built environment of these 'safe routes' within Australia. This study describes the reliability assessment of the Field Audit for Children's Active Transport to School (FACTS) tool.METHODS: The FACTS tool was developed using a multi-step process, including a literature search, expert opinion, and pilot testing. For the reliability assessment, two trained auditors collected data at eight schools over three weeks in April 2021. For inter-rater reliability, auditors conducted audits on the 'safe routes' for the same six schools. For intra-rater reliability, auditors conducted repeat measures on the 'safe routes' for four schools each (eight schools total), including three different schools each from the six used for inter-rater reliability and one additional school. Item-by-item reliability was assessed using Cohen's Kappa, Cohen's Weighted Kappa, and percentage agreement. The reliability of calculated domain scores was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients.RESULTS: For inter-rater reliability, 31 of the 45 (68.9%) items had moderate to almost perfect agreement, seven items (15.6%) had below moderate agreement, and a Kappa statistic could not be calculated for seven items (15.6%) due to constant values. For intra-rater reliability, 37 of the 45 (82.2%) items had moderate to almost perfect agreement, two items (4.4%) had below moderate agreement, and a Kappa statistic could not be calculated for six items (13.3%) due to constant values. For inter- and intra-rater reliability of the segment domain scores, three of the four domains had substantial to almost perfect agreement. For inter- and intra-rater reliability of the crossing domain scores, all four domains had moderate to almost perfect agreement. For inter- and intra-rater reliability of the segment, crossing, route, and school scores, all had substantial to perfect agreement.CONCLUSIONS: The FACTS tool can reliably characterise the microscale built environment of promoted 'safe routes' for their use within SR2S programs, and should be considered for use in future SR2S programs within the suburban Australian context.
AB - BACKGROUND: Children's active travel to school is associated with physical activity and thus health. Safe Routes to School (SR2S) programs identify 'safe routes' to promote children's active travel to school. No field audit tool exists specifically to assess the microscale built environment of these 'safe routes' within Australia. This study describes the reliability assessment of the Field Audit for Children's Active Transport to School (FACTS) tool.METHODS: The FACTS tool was developed using a multi-step process, including a literature search, expert opinion, and pilot testing. For the reliability assessment, two trained auditors collected data at eight schools over three weeks in April 2021. For inter-rater reliability, auditors conducted audits on the 'safe routes' for the same six schools. For intra-rater reliability, auditors conducted repeat measures on the 'safe routes' for four schools each (eight schools total), including three different schools each from the six used for inter-rater reliability and one additional school. Item-by-item reliability was assessed using Cohen's Kappa, Cohen's Weighted Kappa, and percentage agreement. The reliability of calculated domain scores was assessed using intraclass correlation coefficients.RESULTS: For inter-rater reliability, 31 of the 45 (68.9%) items had moderate to almost perfect agreement, seven items (15.6%) had below moderate agreement, and a Kappa statistic could not be calculated for seven items (15.6%) due to constant values. For intra-rater reliability, 37 of the 45 (82.2%) items had moderate to almost perfect agreement, two items (4.4%) had below moderate agreement, and a Kappa statistic could not be calculated for six items (13.3%) due to constant values. For inter- and intra-rater reliability of the segment domain scores, three of the four domains had substantial to almost perfect agreement. For inter- and intra-rater reliability of the crossing domain scores, all four domains had moderate to almost perfect agreement. For inter- and intra-rater reliability of the segment, crossing, route, and school scores, all had substantial to perfect agreement.CONCLUSIONS: The FACTS tool can reliably characterise the microscale built environment of promoted 'safe routes' for their use within SR2S programs, and should be considered for use in future SR2S programs within the suburban Australian context.
KW - Humans
KW - Schools
KW - Child
KW - Reproducibility of Results
KW - Australia
KW - Transportation
KW - Exercise
KW - Evaluation
KW - Active school transportation
KW - Built environment
KW - Safe routes to school
KW - Active school transport
KW - Children
KW - Active school travel
KW - Microscale audit tool
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85206279467&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12889-024-20285-3
DO - 10.1186/s12889-024-20285-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 39402555
SN - 1471-2458
VL - 24
SP - 1
EP - 14
JO - BMC Public Health
JF - BMC Public Health
IS - 1
M1 - 2812
ER -