Environmental Supports for Physical Activity Questionnaire

The Environmental Supports for Physical Activity Questionnaire was prepared by the University of South Carolina Prevention Research Center for a Special Interest Project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The goal of the project was 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. The questionnaire was administered to adults by telephone then was tested for validity and reliability. A Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to validate the environmental surveillance items against objective measures of the social and physical environment. Responses to this questionnaire and self-report of physical activity and walking behavior were analyzed using univariate and multivariate tests to determine if a relationship exists between perceptions of environmental supports for physical activity and levels of physical activity.

The validity and reliability of the environmental questionnaire are reported in: Kirtland KA, Porter DE, Addy CL, Neet MJ, Williams JE, Sharpe PA, Neff LJ, Kimsey CD, Ainsworth BE. Environmental measure of physical activity supports: Perception versus reality. American Journal of Preventitive Medicine 2003; 24(4):323-331.

Survey items from the environmental questionnaire were also used in a separate study that looked at reliability of environmental questions that are reported in: Brownson RC, Chang JJ, Eyler AA, Ainsworth BE, Kirtland KA, Saelens BE, Sallis JF. Measuring the environment for physical activity: A comparison of the reliability of three questionnaires. American Journal of Public Health 2004; 94(3):473-483.

Associations detected between environmental perceptions and self-report of physical activity are reported in: Addy CL, Wilson DK, Kirtland KA, Ainsworth BE, Sharpe PA, Kimsey CD. Associations of perceived social and physical environmental supports for physical activity and walking behaviors. American Journal of Public Health 2004; 94(3):440-443.

Environmental Supports for Physical Activity Questionnaire: The links below will lead you to the original survey items used. Of these original items, 11 were considered an accurate and reliable measurement of an individual's perceptions of the environment. A 5-item short BRFSS module and an 11-item long BRFSS module were created. If you are interested in obtaining these modules to use, please contact the USC Prevention Research Center at uscprc@gwm.sc.edu. More information on the project is available at: http://prevention.sph.sc.edu/sips/sip4.htm.

Questionnaire developed in collaboration with B.E. Ainsworth, C.L. Addy, D.E. Porter, M.J. Neet, K.A. Kirtland, C.D. Kimsey, Jr., L.J. Neff, P.A. Sharpe, J.E. Williams, C.L. Tudor-Locke.

Suggested citation:

SIP 4-99 Research Group (2002, October). Environmental Supports for Physical Activity Questionnaire. Prevention Research Center, Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina. Retrieved [date] from the World Wide Web.

http://prevention.sph.sc.edu/tools/docs/Env_Supports_for_PA.pdf

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