WALKABILITY i The Adaptation of a Perceived Walkability Questionnaire for Adults Living in Northern Climates Trista Anne Takacs Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Psychology School of Psychology Faculty of Social Sciences University of Ottawa © Trista Anne Takacs, Ottawa, Canada, 2017 WALKABILITY ii Dedication Dedicated to my ‘Ohana and Hoaloha near and far. Natus Vincere WALKABILITY iii Abstract Walking is the most popular physical activity reported by adults, and the benefits of walking are well documented in the literature (Fox & Hillsdon, 2007). Walkability refers to the friendliness of neighbourhood characteristics the enables pedestrian walking (Grant, Edwards, Sveistrup, Andrew, & Egan, 2010). A well-known and validated perceived walkability scale, the “Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale” (NEWS; Saelens, Sallis, Black, et al., 2003) was developed in San Diego, California. Several adapted versions of the NEWS have been previously constructed for continued use in warm climates; however, adaptations of the NEWS for climates with winter walkability have not been developed. The main objective of this dissertation was to adapt the NEWS for colder climates and to assess the reliability and validity of the adapted measure, the NEWS-North, by conducting three studies. The first study consisted of two phases. For the first phase, three focus groups reviewed the NEWS questionnaire in a Canadian context and provided feedback on how to adapt the NEWS for use in Canada and other northern climates. The inclusion of a winter walkability section as well as the removal of American spellings and measurements were among some of the suggestions from the focus groups. An initial draft of the NEWS-North was created based on the results from the focus group. For the second phase, this initial draft was sent to a panel of walkability experts to assess content validation. All of the nine subscales were evaluated as highly important during the content validation. In addition, the experts renamed several section titles to improve precision. In the second study and third study, data from an online pilot test in Ottawa, Canada of the NEWS-North was used. The validity based on the internal structure of the questionnaire (i.e., factorial validity) and reliability (i.e., and internal consistency and test-retest reliability) of the NEWS-North was examined in Study Two. In this study, only subscales with the same Likert WALKABILITY iv scale were examined (i.e., seven subscales) following the instructions of the adaptation protocol. Our results suggested a 7-factor model structure based on a multilevel exploratory factor analyses (MEFA). In addition, the 7-factor MEFA model had good test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.85 to 0.93) as well as adequate internal consistency (α = 0.53 to 0.75). In Study Three, the same seven subscales identified by the MEFA were included. In this study, a two-level Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) with spatial dependency analyses was used to examine the convergent validity in the NEWS-North across 64 Ottawa neighbourhoods. The HLM analyses examined each subscale of the NEWS-North with and without any control variables. More specifically, they determined how each subscale of the NEWS-North predicted walking behaviour in the last two weeks at each level. The individual level (Level One) was comprised of the seven subscales of the NEWS-North from self-reported data along with three control variables (i.e., dog ownership, season, and gender). The neighbourhood level (Level Two) was comprised of the six equivalent subscales measured objectively with one control variable. At the time of this study, unfortunately, an equivalent winter subscale was not available at the neighbourhood level. At the individual level without any control variables, only the sidewalk subscale was a marginally significant predictor of walking. However, the sidewalk subscale reached significance while controlling for dog ownership, season, and gender. At the neighbourhood level without controlling for resident median income after tax, two NEWS-North equivalent subscales were found to predict walking behaviours. The sidewalk subscale was marginally significant and the land-use access subscale (via Franks walkability index Frank et al., 2010) was significant. While controlling for neighbourhood resident median income after- tax, both the land-use access subscale and sidewalk subscale were significant predictors of walking over the past two weeks. Overall, this dissertation supports the development for a WALKABILITY v perceived walkability questionnaire for seasonal climates. In addition, the preliminary results overall provide initial evidence for the reliability and validity of the NEWS-North. Overall implications, limitations, and future applied uses of the NEWS-North are discussed. WALKABILITY vi Preface The three manuscripts prepared for this dissertation were conducted and collaborated with my dissertation supervisor, Dr. Elizabeth Kristjansson. Dr. Kristjansson is the second author in all three manuscripts. Mr. Sean Pearce, an academic colleague in Dr. Kristjansson’s lab, is the third author on the first manuscript. Mr. Pearce assisted in the facilitation of the three focus groups, the analysis of the data, as well as provided feedback on the first manuscript. As the first author of each manuscript, I was primarily responsible for the research design, the submission/ addendums to the Research Ethics Board at the University of Ottawa, the recruitment of study participants, the lead investigator in conducting each study (i.e., focus groups and pilot testing a large online study), consent forms, liaising with participants, data entry and/or data retrieval from the hosting website, conducting the data analysis, the interpretation of results, the discussion, and the writing of each manuscript. Dr. Elizabeth Kristjansson provided guidance on the psychometric analyses, provided feedback and refinement of each manuscript and validated the results of all three manuscripts. In addition, two dissertation committee members are authors on the third manuscripts. Dr. Veronika Huta, as third author, contributed to the refinement of the data analysis, statistical analyses guidance, and interpretation of the findings. Dr. Michael Sawada, as forth author, contributed to the research design and both the data collection and analysis of the Geographic Information Systems data. At the time of this thesis submission, none of the three manuscripts have been currently published in a peer-review journal. WALKABILITY vii Acknowledgements “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” Vincent Van Gogh This thesis would not have been possible without the guidance of Dr. Elizabeth Kristjansson. Thank you for your encouragement throughout my doctoral studies. Thank you to my dissertation committee members: Dr. Michael Sawada, Dr. Veronika Huta, and Dr. Heather Orpana for their constructive feedback, research suggestions, and support throughout all of the stages of this dissertation. I would also like to thank Dr. Gavin McCormack for being my external examiner and providing additional research insight. Also, thank you to my lab mate, Sean Pearce, for your support throughout the years. To my wonderful husband, Ross Cheriton, thank you for your unconditional love during this whole graduate process and congratulations on your PhD too. I was fortunate to be able to share our graduate journey together, and I am excited for our new adventures to come. Sir Pickles Cheriton, my four-legged constant companion, paperweight, and cuddle bear: you always knew when it was time that I needed to take a break. I would also like to thank my devoted parents, William and Terrilynne Takacs, my beloved in-laws, Glenn and Huda Cheriton, and my extraordinary sisters in-law, Sherry and Noor, for their social support, coffee replenishments, and unwavering company duration my doctoral studies. A special thank you to Margaret Haines and Dr. Kimberly Matheson for their continued mentorship. WALKABILITY viii Table of Contents Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... ii Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iii Preface ........................................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... vii List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. xiv List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. xv List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................. xvi Chapter 1: General Introduction on Walking ........................................................................... 1 The Importance of Walking ...................................................................................................................... 1 Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle by Walking ..........................................................................................