Recorded presentation

Sharon B. Sugerman, MS, RD, FADA¹, Sara Cook, MPH, CHES¹, Diana L. Cassady, DrPH², Jennifer Culp, MPH, RD², and Susan B. Foerster, MPH, RD³. (1) Public Health Institute, Cancer Prevention and Nutrition Section, MS-7204, PO Box 997413, 1616 Capitol Ave., Sacramento, CA 95899-7413, 916-449-5390, scook1@dhs.ca.gov, (2) Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, TB 168, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616-8683, (3) Cancer Prevention and Nutrition Section, California Department of Health Services, P.O. Box 997413; MS-7204, Sacramento, CA 95899-7413

With a national obesity rate exceeding 60%, the interest and need for environmental approaches to health promotion is escalating, leading to increased call for appropriate evaluation tools. The Cancer Prevention and Nutrition Section of the California Dept. of Health Services and the University of CA, Davis collaborated to compile a set of environmental evaluation tools for a new Web site (http://socialmarketing-nutrition.ucdavis.edu/Tools/somarktools.php). This compilation provides 150+ CPNS-funded contractors and other public health professionals with well-researched and tested resources for evaluating nutrition, physical activity, and food security systems, policy, and environmental change. A literature search, review of conference presentations, Internet investigation, and recommendations from evaluation experts identified potential instruments. For each tool, a contact provided information on who developed the tool, how it was used, the extent to which it was validated and pre-tested, publications about it, and improvement suggestions and/or usage caveats. Only a few of the recommended instruments had been rigorously validated. Therefore, all tools included on the website were either validated or developed by experienced researchers and program planners, using tested questions of others, expert reviewers, and pre-testing to guide their development. The tools are organized according to specific environments: comprehensive community instruments, diet and/or physical activity environments, food retailers, worksites, churches, health care providers, food security/food access, and schools. After 3 months in operation, the 32-instrument website averaged 389 monthly hits. This presentation will examine findings about well-tested environmental instruments and website utilization, identify gaps for needed tools, and explore the options for greater development of the website.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this presentation, the listener will be able to

• Describe the purpose and contents of the Tools for Measuring Environmental Change website;
• Discuss the search strategy and acceptance criteria;
• Identify future potential uses of and additions to the evaluation tools web site.

Keywords: , Evaluation

Related Web page: socialmarketing-nutrition.ucdavis.edu/Tools/somarktools.php

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Recorded presentation