Revising the senior walking environmental assessment tool

Abstract

Background The Senior Walking Environmental Assessment Tool (SWEAT), an instrument for measuring built environmental features associated with physical activity of older adults, was revised to create an easier-to-use tool for use by practitioners and community members. Methods Inter-rater and intra-rater reliability of the modified instrument (SWEAT-R) was assessed in Portland, Oregon in 2007. Five trained observers audited street segments in 12 neighborhoods, resulting in 361 pairs of audits, including 63 repeated audits. Results Overall, 88% and 75% of items assessed had good or excellent inter-rater and intra-rater reliability, respectively. The revised instrument required less time to complete than the original instrument, while obtaining more information. Conclusion SWEAT-R provides easy to gather, reliable data for use in community-based audits of built environment in relation to walking among older adults.

Physical Activity and Food Environment Assessments

“…For physical activity, typical surveys include questions on the perceptions of the presence and condition of sidewalks, green space, bike lanes, and accessible recreational facilities. Tools may be short or highly detailed, 13 and they may be tailored to subpopulations such as youth, 14 older adults, 15 or particular ethnic groups. In-person or telephone key informant interviews are a way to gain relevant perceptions from stakeholders.…”

Marchabilité des environnements urbains autour des résidences pour personnes âgées de la région de Montréal : application de l’audit MAPPA

“…Le Senior Walking Environmental Assessment Tool (SWEAT) est une adaptation du SPACES qui s'intéresse à la marchabilité pour les aînés (Cunningham et al, 2005 ;Michael et al, 2009). Il est organisé autour de quatre thèmes : la fonctionnalité des segments, l'image de sécurité qu'ils renvoient, la qualité esthétique et la nature des destinations qu'on y trouve.…”

“…Les modifications et ajouts effectués découlent de la littérature, d'une série d'entretiens menés dans une recherche antérieure auprès de personnes âgées de Lachine et du Vieux-Longueuil (Negron et Grou, 2012) ainsi que de la consultation de l'audit SWEAT-R spécifique aux aînés (Cunningham et al, 2005 ;Michael et al, 2009). …”

Physical environmental factors that invite older adults to walk for transportation

“…The first questionnaire was used by experts to rate twelve environmental characteristics and the second questionnaire was used by the research team to rate the photographs on an additional seven environmental characteristics that were easier to objectify. These questionnaires were based upon the following existing environmental assessment tools: The Irvine-Minnesota Inventory (Day, Boarnet, Alfonzo, & Forsyth, 2006), SWEAT (Cunningham, Michael, Farquhar, & Lapidus, 2005), SWEAT-R (Michael, et al, 2009), SPACES (Pikora, et al, 2002), and a questionnaire used by Hanyu (2000). A first questionnaire was used by five experts in the field of PA-environment research to rate the environments on the following twelve environmental characteristics: sidewalk width, sidewalk upkeep, sidewalk evenness, presence of driveways (crossing the sidewalk), safety to cross, surveillance (i.e.…”