The Research Unit for Movement, Health and Environment, The Åstrand Laboratory, GIH - The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, SE-114 86 Stockholm, Sweden.
BMC Med Res Methodol. 2011 Jan 17;11(1):6. doi: 10.1186/1471-2288-11-6.
Route environments can positively influence people's active commuting and thereby contribute to public health. The Active Commuting Route Environment Scale (ACRES) was developed to study active commuters' perceptions of their route environments. However, bicycle commuters represent a small portion of the population in many cities and thus are difficult to study using population-based material. Therefore, the aim of this study is to expand the state of knowledge concerning the criterion-related validity of the ACRES and the representativity using an advertisement-recruited sample. Furthermore, by comparing commuting route environment profiles of inner urban and suburban areas, we provide a novel basis for understanding the relationship between environment and bikeability.
Bicycle commuters from Greater Stockholm, Sweden, advertisement- (n = 1379) and street-recruited (n = 93), responded to the ACRES. Traffic planning and environmental experts from the Municipality of Stockholm (n = 24) responded to a modified version of the ACRES. The criterion-related validity assessments were based on whether or not differences between the inner urban and the suburban route environments, as indicated by the experts and by four existing objective measurements, were reflected by differences in perceptions of these environments. Comparisons of ratings between advertisement- and street-recruited participants were used for the assessments of representativity. Finally, ratings of inner urban and suburban route environments were used to evaluate commuting route environment profiles.
Differences in ratings of the inner urban and suburban route environments by the advertisement-recruited participants were in accord with the existing objective measurements and corresponded reasonably well with those of the experts. Overall, there was a reasonably good correspondence between the advertisement- and street-recruited participants' ratings. Distinct differences in commuting route environment profiles were noted between the inner urban and suburban areas. Suburban route environments were rated as safer and more stimulating for bicycle-commuting than the inner urban ones. In general, the findings applied to both men and women.
The overall results show: considerable criterion-related validity of the ACRES; ratings of advertisement-recruited participants mirroring those of street-recruited participants; and a higher degree of bikeability in the suburban commuting route environments than in the inner urban ones.
路线环境可以积极影响人们的主动出行，从而促进公共健康。主动出行路线环境量表（ACRES）是为了研究主动出行者对其路线环境的感知而开发的。然而，在许多城市，自行车出行者在人口中仅占一小部分，因此很难使用基于人口的材料进行研究。因此，本研究旨在通过广告招募的样本，扩展 ACRES 的准则相关有效性和代表性的知识状态。此外，通过比较市区和郊区的通勤路线环境概况，我们为理解环境与骑行能力之间的关系提供了一个新的基础。
来自瑞典斯德哥尔摩大都市区的自行车出行者，通过广告（n=1379）和街头招募（n=93），对 ACRES 做出了回应。斯德哥尔摩市的交通规划和环境专家（n=24）对 ACRES 的一个修改版本做出了回应。准则相关有效性评估是基于专家和四项现有客观测量所指出的市区和郊区路线环境之间的差异，是否反映在这些环境的感知差异上。广告和街头招募参与者之间的评分比较用于代表性评估。最后，使用市区和郊区通勤路线环境的评分来评估通勤路线环境概况。
广告招募参与者对市区和郊区路线环境的评分差异与现有客观测量结果一致，与专家的评估结果相当吻合。总体而言，广告和街头招募参与者的评分之间存在相当好的一致性。市区和郊区的通勤路线环境概况存在明显差异。郊区的通勤路线环境被评为比市区更适合自行车出行，更具刺激性。一般来说，这些发现适用于男性和女性。
总体结果表明：ACRES 具有相当大的准则相关有效性；广告招募参与者的评分反映了街头招募参与者的评分；郊区的通勤路线环境比市区更具骑行能力。
