Childhood Obesity, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Rte. 1 and College Rd. East, Princeton, NJ 08543-2316, USA.
Am J Health Promot. 2010 Jul-Aug;24(6):410-26. doi: 10.4278/ajhp.080909-LIT-190.
Food environments affect people's food-related decisions, consumption, and health outcomes. This paper critiques instruments available for assessing food environments to help researchers, practitioners, and community organizations select those that best meet their needs, resources, and level of expertise. Gaps and recommendations for future instrument development are discussed.
Instruments were selected by reviewing the literature and contacting researchers and practitioners. Using the social-ecological model, the instruments were classified according to the type of food environments they assess. Each instrument is rated according to criteria for ease of use, detail, resources required, and psychometric testing.
Of the 48 instruments identified, only 39% were tested for validity or reliability. Observational tools were the largest category of instruments developed. Fifty-two percent of the instruments provide some level of technical assistance and 37% are considered appropriate for community members.
Three distinct groups want to assess food environments: researchers, practitioners, and community organizations. These groups have different information needs and different capacities to undertake assessments. At this time there is a tradeoff between simplicity and low cost on the one hand, and detail and accuracy on the other. To choose the most suitable instrument, users should consider the pros and cons of each instrument and base their selection on purpose of their assessment, resources and expertise at hand, and validity, reliability, and ease of use of the instrument.
食品环境会影响人们与食物相关的决策、消费和健康结果。本文对评估食品环境的现有工具进行了评价，旨在帮助研究人员、从业者和社区组织选择最符合其需求、资源和专业水平的工具。本文还讨论了未来工具开发的差距和建议。
通过查阅文献并联系研究人员和从业者，选择了评估工具。根据所评估的食品环境类型，使用社会生态模型对工具进行了分类。根据易用性、详细程度、所需资源和心理测试等标准，对每个工具进行了评分。
在所确定的 48 种工具中，只有 39%的工具经过了有效性或可靠性测试。观察工具是开发的最大类别的工具。52%的工具提供了一定程度的技术援助，37%的工具被认为适合社区成员使用。
有三组人想要评估食品环境：研究人员、从业者和社区组织。这些群体有不同的信息需求和评估能力。在这方面，一方面是简单性和低成本，另一方面是细节和准确性，存在权衡取舍。为了选择最合适的工具，用户应考虑每个工具的优缺点，并根据评估目的、手头的资源和专业知识以及工具的有效性、可靠性和易用性来进行选择。
