Introduction

Active school travel is an important way to promote children's physical activity, but it requires supportive environments that can safely and comfortably accommodate children's walking and biking. Few existing indices explicitly consider school neighborhood environmental factors related to children's walking to school. In this study, we used a street audit tool and Geographic Information System (GIS) to evaluate walkability near low-income elementary schools in Seattle, WA.

Methods

The audit-based school walkability index was developed based on all street segments (n = 841) within a 0.4 km network buffer from each study school (n = 18). The GIS-based school walkability, a combination of road connectivity, vehicular traffic exposure, and residential density, was also measured in a 2 km network buffer around each school. The participants were individuals aged 8–11 years (n = 315) who participated in the Walking School Bus randomized controlled trial project. Mixed-effects logistic and linear models were used to examine the association of the index's representations of the built environment with children's school travel mode (walking or biking to school 1+ times per week) and with objectively measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA, average weekday minutes during the 90-min before-school period). These associations were tested with the total sample as well as the subsample of children living within 1.5 km from their schools.

Results

The audit-based school walkability index (WI) was positively associated with both active commuting to school among the subsample living within 1.5 km from their schools and with children's before-school MVPA among the subsample and the total sample. The GIS-based school WI showed significant associations with children's before-school MVPA but no relationships with active school travel among the subsample and the total sample.

Conclusion

The audit-based school walkability index can be used as a complementary tool for measuring walkability near low-income elementary schools along with existing GIS-based school walkability index.

中文翻译：

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学校步行指数：环境审计工具和GIS的应用

介绍

积极的学校旅行是促进儿童体育活动的重要方式，但它需要能够安全舒适地容纳儿童步行和骑自行车的支持性环境。很少有现有指数明确考虑与儿童步行上学相关的学校社区环境因素。在这项研究中，我们使用街道审计工具和地理信息系统 (GIS) 来评估华盛顿州西雅图市低收入小学附近的步行适宜性。

方法

基于审计的学校步行性指数是根据每所研究学校 (n = 18) 0.4 公里网络缓冲区内的所有街道段 (n = 841) 开发的。还在每所学校周围 2 公里的网络缓冲区中测量了基于 GIS 的学校步行性，即道路连通性、车辆交通暴露和住宅密度的组合。参与者是参加步行校车随机对照试验项目的 8-11 岁 (n = 315) 的个体。使用混合效应逻辑和线性模型来检查指数对建筑环境的表示与儿童的学校旅行方式（步行或骑自行车上学每周 1 次以上）以及客观测量的中度到剧烈体力活动之间的关联（ MVPA，上学前 90 分钟的平均工作日分钟数）。

结果

基于审计的学校步行指数（WI）与居住在学校1.5公里以内的子样本中的积极通勤率以及子样本和总样本中儿童的学前MVPA呈正相关。基于 GIS 的学校 WI 显示与儿童的学前 MVPA 显着相关，但在子样本和总样本中与积极的学校旅行没有关系。

结论

基于审计的学校可步行性指数可与现有的基于 GIS 的学校可步行性指数一起用作衡量低收入小学附近可步行性的补充工具。