PRC REPORTS AND TOOLS

The following reports and tools were developed either exclusively by the PRC or in collaboration with other community agencies and partners. Each report or tool is described briefly on this page and further information can be found by following the links provided.

Good Health: It's Your Move - a Report on Physical Activity in South Carolina (1999) was prepared to assist professionals and community leaders in their efforts to promote physical activity in the state. The report documents state activity levels and presents an analysis of the financial burden of inactivity and cost benefits of active lifestyles. It also discusses strategies for promoting physical activity. This report has been a model for other state physical activity reports.

Tools:

VOLUNTEER WALK LEADER MANUAL. This manual was developed by Jean Butel in partnership with Linda Pekuri and the Sumter Active Lifestyles Coalition.  It was used in conjunction with an in-person training session for community volunteers interested in starting a walking group. The manual provides relevant and useful information to assist walk leaders and enhance the walk leader experience. It contains the information and tools needed to be a successful volunteer walk leader. When using these materials, please use the following citation: Volunteer Walk Leader Manual. Sumter County Active Lifestyles, 2008.  http://www.sumtercountyactivelifestyles.org/Walk_Leader_Manual.pdf; http://www.sumtercountyactivelifestyles.org/Sample_forms_for_manual.pdf

Environmental Supports for Physical Activity Questionnaire
This questionnaire was used to develop and test questions for a future Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) module to assess individual perceptions of physical activity supports in the social and physical environment. From the questionnaire, a 5-item short BRFSS module and an 11-item long BRFSS module were created.

Recreation Facility Evaluation Tool
This instrument can be used to identify and evaluate parks, playgrounds, sports fields, aquatic facilities/pools, and recreation centers. Each park and recreation center can be rated with respect to safety, condition, and maintenance of the facility.

Sidewalk Assessment Tool
The Sidewalk Assessment Tool consists of five items used to assess each segment of a sidewalk: levelness, artificial items blocking the path, natural items blocking the path, cleanliness (litter), and surface condition.

Evaluating Community Coalition Characteristics and Functioning
An inventory of measurement tools for evaluating coalition functioning was created from a review of the research literature and the Internet. In this inventory, the measurement tools are organized by five general categories (which are not necessarily mutually exclusive): 1) Member Characteristics and Perceptions, 2) Organizational or Group Characteristics, 3) Organizational or Group Climate and Processes, 4) General Coalition Function or Scales Bridging Multiple Constructs, and 5) Impacts and Outcomes.

The Compendium of Physical Activities
Since its first use in 1987, the Compendium has been used in studies worldwide to assign intensity units to physical activity questionnaire responses and to develop innovative ways to assess energy expenditure in physical activity studies.

International Physical Activity Questionnaire
The purpose of the International Physical Activity Questionnaires (IPAQ) is to provide a set of well-developed instruments that can be used internationally to obtain comparable estimates of physical activity. There are two versions of the questionnaire. The short version is suitable for use in national and regional surveillance systems and the long version provide more detailed information often required in research work or for evaluation purposes. Dr. Barbara Ainsworth, former director of the USC PRC, is a member of the IPAQ development team. This link will take you directly to the IPAQ website.

Heart Healthy & Ethnically Relevant (HHER) Tools
The Heart Healthy and Ethnically Relevant (HHER) Tools study developed a replicable process for redesigning educational tools to improve diet and physical activity patterns for cardiovascular disease risk reduction to be culturally relevant for financially disadvantaged African American women. In addition to a paper detailing the HHER Tools process, final products of the study include educational materials for "Lowfat Living" and Walking.

Tools for Reviewing Physical Activity Promotional Materials.
The USC PRC has developed a tool for evaluating physical activity promotional materials and has used this tool to assess a number of current materials. At this link you will find a list of reviewed materials plus tools and instructions for evaluating your own materials.

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