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336118
Validation of Constructs Measuring Pedestrian and Transportation Infrastructure on the Community Health Inclusion Index


Monday, November 2, 2015 : 11:10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Yochai Eisenberg, MUPP, Department of Disability and Human Development, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
Vijay Vasudevan, PhD, MPH, Department on Disability and Human Development, Institute on Disability and Human Development, Chicago, IL
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
The Community Health Inclusion Index (CHII) is a new instrument developed to provide communities with the ability to measure how well they support healthy, active living for persons with disabilities.  The purpose of this study is to establish the convergent validity among a subset of constructs within the CHII related to pedestrian and transportation infrastructure.

Convergent validity was measured between each construct and measures of a community’s median income, level of urbanity, and percentage of the population with a disability. Data was analyzed from field testing of the CHII in 154 sites within 15 geographically diverse communities.  Constructs previously shown to have good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha>.70) were scored as percent correct. Pearson’s r and Spearman’s rho were used to establish relationships.  Subsequent OLS regressions modeled each construct with the 3 community variables and were run clustering standard errors by communities as a sensitivity analysis. 

Income was negatively correlated with transit accessibility(r= -.36, p<.01), and positively correlated with appealing walking features(r=.56, p<.0001), intersections(r=.28, p<.05) and paths(r=.24, p<.01).  Being in a rural community was negatively correlated with intersections(ρ=-.30, p<.01), transit(ρ=-.29, p<.05) and appealing walking features(ρ=-.23, p<.01).  Percentage of the population with a disability was correlated with transit accessibility(r=.34, p<.01), appealing walking(r=-.35, p<.0001) and parking(r=-.39, p<.0001).  After controlling for clustering, most of the significant relationships held.

The CHII showed moderate levels of convergent validity, and it can be used to assess the transit and pedestrian infrastructure around health promoting sites to determine level of access for persons with disabilities.

Learning Areas:

Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Public health or related public policy
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Identify approaches to measuring accessibility of pedestrian and transit infrastructure Explain the convergent validity of the Community Health Inclusion Index Demonstrate the application of the Community Healthy Inclusion Index in communities to support physical activity and healthy eating among persons with disabilities

Keyword(s): Accessibility, Built Environment

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I was the principal investigator of the study. I coordinated the development and field testing of the Community Health Inclusion Index. I conducted the analysis. My research interests for the past 6 years have been around the effect of the built environment on physical activity and healthy eating among persons with disabilities.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3144.0: Approaches to physical activity and healthy living for persons with disabilities