East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Prev Chronic Dis. 2011 Nov;8(6):A149. Epub 2011 Oct 17.
A community audit is a qualitative and quantitative research technique in which researchers drive through a community to observe its physical and social attributes, primarily through windshield tours and "ground truthing." Ground truthing is a verification process that uses data gathered by direct observation to corroborate data gathered from secondary sources. Community audits have been used for epidemiologic studies and in program planning for health-promotion interventions. Few studies have detailed the methodology for conducting community audits in rural areas or the extent to which community audits can contribute to an accurate assessment of community characteristics (eg, presence of sidewalks) and nutrition and physical activity resources (eg, produce stands, parks) that may promote healthful lifestyle behaviors. The objective of this article is to describe our approach to conducting a community audit (consisting of windshield tours and ground truthing) to enumerate resources, to assess community characteristics, and to inform revisions to a community guide on nutrition and physical activity resources. We conducted an audit in 10 communities in a rural eastern North Carolina county in 2010. We also collected data from secondary sources to make comparisons with community audit data. The initial resource guide included 42 resources; the community audits identified 38 additional resources. There was moderate to high agreement between windshield tour observations and secondary data sources for several community characteristics, such as number of fast-food restaurants (67% agreement) and existence of sidewalks (100% agreement). Community audits improved the description of health-promoting community resources and the context in which people make lifestyle choices.
社区审计是一种定性和定量研究技术，研究人员开车穿过一个社区，观察其物理和社会属性，主要通过挡风玻璃游览和“实地核实”。实地核实是一种验证过程，它使用直接观察收集的数据来证实从二手来源收集的数据。社区审计已用于流行病学研究和健康促进干预措施的规划。很少有研究详细介绍在农村地区进行社区审计的方法，也很少有研究说明社区审计在多大程度上可以准确评估社区特征（例如，人行道的存在）和营养与体育活动资源（例如，农产品摊位、公园），这些特征和资源可能促进健康的生活方式行为。本文的目的是描述我们进行社区审计（包括挡风玻璃游览和实地核实）的方法，以列举资源、评估社区特征，并为营养和体育活动资源社区指南的修订提供信息。我们于 2010 年在北卡罗来纳州东部的一个农村县的 10 个社区进行了审计。我们还从二手资料中收集数据，以便与社区审计数据进行比较。最初的资源指南包括 42 个资源；社区审计又确定了 38 个额外的资源。对于一些社区特征，如快餐店数量（67%的一致性）和人行道的存在（100%的一致性），挡风玻璃游览观察和二手数据来源之间存在中度到高度的一致性。社区审计改善了对促进健康的社区资源的描述，以及人们做出生活方式选择的背景。
