BackgroundGrowing evidence suggests that mixed methods approaches to measuring neighborhood effects on health are needed. The Wisconsin Assessment of the Social and Built Environment (WASABE) is an objective audit tool designed as an addition to a statewide household-based health examination survey, the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW), to objectively measure participant’s neighborhoods.MethodsThis paper describes the development and implementation of the WASABE and examines the instrument’s ability to capture a range of social and built environment features in urban and rural communities. A systematic literature review and formative research were used to create the tool. Inter-rater reliability parameters across items were calculated. Prevalence and density of features were estimated for strata formed according to several sociodemographic and urbanicity factors.ResultsThe tool is highly reliable with over 81% of 115 derived items having percent agreement above 95%. It captured variance in neighborhood features in for a diverse sample of SHOW participants. Sidewalk density in neighborhoods surrounding households of participants living at less than 100% of the poverty level was 67% (95% confidence interval, 55-80%) compared to 34% (25-44%) for those living at greater than 400% of the poverty level. Walking and biking trails were present in 29% (19-39%) of participant buffer in urban areas compared to only 7% (2-12%) in rural communities. Significant environmental differences were also observed for white versus non-white, high versus low income, and college graduates versus individuals with lower level of education.ConclusionsThe WASABE has strong inter-rater reliability and validity properties. It builds on previous work to provide a rigorous and standardized method for systematically gathering objective built and social environmental data in a number of geographic settings. Findings illustrate the complex milieu of built environment features found in participants neighborhoods and have relevance for future research, policy, and community engagement purposes.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-1165) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Background:No prior studies have assessed the relationship of school-sites with children's fitness, nor evaluated how it is influenced by types of built environments surrounding school-sites. Purpose: To create a typology of school-sites and assess their associations, with school-level cardiorespiratory fitness (PACER score), as well as 34 environmental measures, reflecting food retailers and parks. Methods: PACER scores (#laps) were obtained on 20,900 children, 5-18 years-old, attending 103 rural and urban public schools in Wisconsin 2009-2010. Scores were aggregated at the school-level (mean 25.2±10.5). School-site typology reflects walkability context and parcel size. Schools were classified as: Neighborhood-School, Neighborhood-Campus, Neighborhood-Suburban, or Campus-School. Geospatial and linear regression were performed , overall and by sex and age strata, using a 1600-meter circular buffer around each school. Associations with school-level-PACER score were assessed for school types; density of unhealthy and healthier food retailers; and types of parks. Results: Campus-Schools predict a school average-PACER 7 laps significantly higher than Neighborhood-schools. 'Neighborhood-Campus' showed the lowest PACER for males and 11-13 years-old (10 and 12 laps lower). Negatively correlated with average-PACER were, unhealthy convenience stores for both sex, large parks for females. More fast-casual restaurants predict higher average-PACER. Schools with more students predict higher average-PACER for males and 6-10 years-old. Conclusion: Among Wisconsin schools, school-site and its context are associated with children's physical fitness, suggesting that school-siting should include a health benefit analyses in the process. This study demonstrates the utility of school-level PACER scores and suggests further study of the mechanisms by which children's fitness is influenced by food retailers around school zones. ABSTRACT IRJPH: https://escipub.com/international-research-journal-of-public-health/ 1Milena Bernardinello and Aaron L. Carrel, IRJPH, 2019; 3:31 IRJPH: https://escipub.com/international-research-journal-of-public-health/ 2 7 U.S. Census SAIPE 2010 -https://www.census.gov/programssurveys/saipe/data/datasets.2010.html 8 UW-Madison GeoData portalhttp://maps.sco.wisc.edu/opengeoportal, 2018 9 UW-Madison State Cartographer's Officehttps://www.sco.wisc.edu/data/parcels/

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