A systematic review of active transportation research in Africa and the psychometric properties of measurement tools for children and youth

International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

Volumn 11, Issue 1, 2014, Pages

  Larouche, Richard ^a   Oyeyemi, Adewale L ^b   Prista, Antonio ^c   Onywera, Vincent ^d   Akinroye, Kingsley K ^e   Tremblay, Mark S ^a,f  

^a CHILDREN S HOSPITAL OF EASTERN ONTARIO   (Canada)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MAIDUGURI   (Nigeria)

^c Universidade Pedagógica Campus de Lhanguene   (Mozambique)

^d KENYATTA UNIVERSITY   (Kenya)

^e Nigerian Heart Foundation   (Nigeria)

^f UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA   (Canada)

Author keywords

Active travel; Africa; Motorized travel; Reliability; Validity

Indexed keywords

AFRICA SOUTH OF THE SAHARA; AFRICAN; BEHAVIOR; CHECKLIST; CHILD; COCHRANE LIBRARY; CONVERGENT VALIDITY; EMBASE; HIGH INCOME COUNTRY; HUMAN; JUVENILE; MEDLINE; PHYSICAL ACTIVITY; PRESCHOOL CHILD; PSYCINFO; SYSTEMATIC REVIEW; TEST RETEST RELIABILITY; TRAVEL; URBAN AREA; ADOLESCENT; AFRICA; FACTUAL DATABASE; FEMALE; MALE; PROCEDURES; PSYCHOMETRY; REPRODUCIBILITY; SCHOOL; STATISTICS AND NUMERICAL DATA; TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORT; WALKING;

ADOLESCENT; AFRICA; CHILD; CHILD, PRESCHOOL; DATABASES, FACTUAL; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; PSYCHOMETRICS; REPRODUCIBILITY OF RESULTS; SCHOOLS; TRANSPORTATION; WALKING;

EID: 84925227828     PISSN: None     EISSN: 14795868     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1186/s12966-014-0129-5     Document Type: Review

References (78)

1. Basterfield L, Adamson AJ, Parkinson KN, Maute U, Li PX, Reilly JJ, for the Gateshead Millennium Study Core Team: Surveillance of physical activity in the UK is flawed: validation of the health survey for England Physical Activity Questionnaire. Arch Dis Child 2008, 93:1054-1058.
2. Colley RC, Garriguet D, Janssen I, Craig CL, Clarke J, Tremblay MS: Physical activity of Canadian children and youth: Accelerometer results from the 2007 to 2009 Canadian Health Measures Survey. Health Reps 2011, 22(1):15-23.
3. Hallal P, Andersen LB, Bull FC, Guthold R, Haskell W, Ekelund U, for the Lancet Physical Activity Series Working Group: Global physical activity levels: surveillance progress, pitfalls and prospects. Lancet 2012, 380(9838):247-257.
4. Troiano RP, Berrigan D, Dodd KW, Mâsse LC, Tilert T, McDowell M: Physical activity in the United States measured by accelerometer. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2008, 40(1):181-188.
5. World Health Organization (WHO): Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health. Geneva: WHO; 2010.
6. Guthold R, Cowan MJ, Autenrieth CS, Kann L, Riley LM: Physical activity and sedentary behavior among school-children: a 34-country comparison. J Pediatr 2010, 157:43-49.
7. Adamo KB, Prince SA, Tricco AC, Connor-Gorber S, Tremblay MS: A comparison of indirect versus direct measures for assessing physical activity in the pediatric population: a systematic review. Int J Pediatr Obes 2009, 4(1):2-27.
8. Katzmarzyk P, Mason C: The physical activity transition. J Phys Act Health 2009, 6:269-280.
9. Ojiambo RM, Easton C, Casajus JA, Konstabel K, Reilly JJ, Pitsiladis Y: Effect of urbanization on objectively measures physical activity levels, sedentary time, and indices of adiposity in Kenyan adolescents. J Phys Act Health 2012, 9:115-123.
10. Onywera VO, Adamo KB, Sheel AW, Waudo JN, Boit MK, Tremblay M: Emerging evidence of the physical activity transition in Kenya. J Phys Act Health 2012, 9:554-562.
11. Adamo KB, Sheel AW, Onywera V, Waudo J, Boit M, Tremblay MS: Child obesity and fitness levels among Kenyan and Canadian children from urban and rural environments: a KIDS-CAN research alliance study. Int J Pediatr Obes 2011, 6(2):e225-e232.
12. Faulkner GEF, Richichi V, Buliung RN, Fusco C, Moola F: What's "quickest and easiest?": parental decision making about school trip mode. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2010, 7(62).
13. Murtagh S, Rowe DA, Elliot MA, McMinn D, Nelson NM: Predicting active school travel: the role of planned behavior and habit strength. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2012, 9(65).
14. Larouche R, Saunders TJ, Faulkner GEJ, Colley RC, Tremblay MS: Associations between active school transport and physical activity, body composition and cardiovascular fitness: a systematic review of 68 studies. J Phys Act Health 2014, 11(1):206-227.
15. Andersen LB, Harro M, Sardinha LB, Froberg K, Ekelund U, Brage S, Anderssen SA: Physical activity and clustered cardiovascular risk in children: a cross-sectional study (The European Youth Heart Study). Lancet 2006, 368:299-304.
16. Ekelund U, Luan J, Sherar LB, Esliger DW, Griew P, Cooper AR: Moderate to vigorous physical activity and sedentary time and cardiometabolic risk factors in children and adolescents. JAMA 2012, 307:704-712.
17. Lee IM, Shiroma EJ, Lobelo F, Puska P, Blair SN, Katzmarzyk PT, Lancet Physical Activity Series Working Group: Effect of physical inactivity on major non-communicable diseases worldwide: an analysis of burden of disease and life expectancy. Lancet 2012, 380(9838):219-229.
18. Abegunde DO, Mathers CD, Adam T, Ortegon M, Strong K: The burden and costs of chronic diseases in low-income and middle-income countries. Lancet 2007, 370(9603):1929-1938.
19. Geneau R, Stuckler D, McKee M, Ebrahim S, Basu S, Chockalingham A, Mwatsama M, Jamal R, Alwan A, Beaglehole R: Raising the priority of preventing chronic diseases: a political process. Lancet 2010, 376:1689-1698.
20. World Health Organization (WHO): Global Status Report on non-Communicable Diseases 2010. Geneva: WHO; 2011.
21. Onywera VO, Blanchard C: Road accidents: a third burden of 'disease' in sub-Saharan Africa. Glob Health Promot 2013, 20(4):52-55.
22. World Health Organization (WHO): Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013. Geneva: WHO; 2013.
23. Roberts I, Edwards P: The Energy Glut: The Politics of Fatness in an Overheating World. London: Zed Books Ltd; 2010.
24. Smith L, Sahlqvist S, Ogilvie D, Jones A, Griffin SJ, van Sluijs E: Is active travel to non-school destinations associated with physical activity in primary school children? Prev Med 2012, 54:224-228.
25. Sirard JR, Slater ME: Walking and bicycling to school: a review. Am J Lifestyle Med 2008, 2(5):372-396.
26. Muthuri SK, Wachira LJM, Leblanc AG, Francis CE, Sampson M, Onywera VO, Tremblay MS: Temporal trends and correlates of physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and physical fitness among school-aged children in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2014, 11:3327-3359.
27. Bovet P, Chiolero A, Madeleine G, Paccaud F: Prevalence of overweight and underweight in public and private school in the Seychelles. Int J Pediatr Obes 2010, 5:274-278.
28. Peltzer K: Health behavior and protective factors among school children in four African countries. Int J Behav Med 2009, 16:172-180.
29. Oyeyemi AL, Ishaku CM, Deforche B, Oyeyemi AY, De Bourdeaudhuij I, Van Dyck D: Perception of built environmental factors and physical activity among adolescents in Nigeria. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2014, 11:56.
30. Downs SH, Black N: The feasibility of creating a checklist for the assessment of the methodological quality both of randomised and non-randomised studies of health care interventions. J Epidemiol Community Health 1998, 52:377-384.
31. Muthuri SK, Francis CE, Wachira LJM, LeBlanc AG, Sampson M, Onywera VO, Tremblay MS: Evidence of an overweight/obesity transition among school-aged children and youth in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review. PLoS One 2014, 9(3):e92846.
32. Tremblay MS, LeBlanc AG, Kho ME, Saunders TJ, Larouche R, Colley RC, Goldfield G, Connor Gorber S: Systematic review of sedentary behaviour and health indicators in school-aged children and youth. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2011, 8:98.
33. Porter G, Hampshire K, Abane A, Munthali A, Robson E, Mashiri M, Maponya G: Where dogs, ghosts and lions roam: learning for mobile ethnographies on the journey to school. Child Geogr 2010, 8(2):91-105.
34. Porter G, Hampshire K, Abane A, Robson E, Munthali A, Mashiri M, Tanle A: Moving young lives: mobility, immobility, and inter-generational tensions in urban Africa. Geoforum 2010, 41:796-804.
35. Porter G, Hampshire K, Abane A, Tanle A, Munthali A, Robson E, Mashiri M, Maponya G: Young people?s transport and mobility in sub-Saharan Africa: the gendered journey to school. Doc Anal Geogr 2011, 57(1):61-79.
36. Porter G, Hampshire K, Abane A, Tanle A, Esia-Donkoh K, Amoako-Sakyi RO, Agblorti S, Owusu SA: Mobility, education and livelihood trajectories for young people in Ghana: a gender perspective. Child Geogr 2011, 9(3-4):395-410.
37. Taleb S, Agli AN: Obésité de l'enfant: rôle des facteurs socioéconomiques, obésité parentale, comportement alimentaire et activité physique, chez des enfants scolarisés dans une ville de l'Est Algérien Cahiers de Nutrition et de Diététique. 2009, 44:198-206.
38. Croteau K, Schofield G, Towle G, Suresh V: Pedometer-determined physical activity of Western Kenyan children. J Phys Act Health 2011, 8:824-828.
39. Gibson AR, Ojiambo R, Konstabel K, Lieberman DE, Reilly JJ, Speakman JR, Pitsiladis YP: Aerobic capacity, activity levels and daily energy expenditure in male and female adolescents of the Kenyan Nandi sub-group. PLoS ONE 2013, 8(6):e66552.
40. Larsen HR, Christensen DL, Nolan T, Søndergaard H: Body dimensions, exercise capacity and physical activity level of adolescent Nandi boys in western Kenya. Ann Hum Biol 2004, 31(2):159-173.
41. Muthuri SK, Wachira LJM, Onywera VO, Tremblay MS: Correlates of objectively measured overweight/obesity and physical activity in Kenyan school children: results from ISCOLE Kenya. BMC Public Health 2014, 14:436.
42. Ojiambo R, Gibson AR, Konstabel K, Lieberman DE, Reilly JJ, Speakman JR, Pitsiladis YP: Free-living physical activity and energy expenditure of rural children and adolescents in the Nandi region of Kenya. Ann Hum Biol 2013, 40(4):318-323.
43. Lennox A, Pienaar AE, Wilders C: Physical fitness and the physical activity status of 15-year-old adolescents in a semi-urban community. S. Afr. J. Res. Sport Phys. Educ. Recreation 2008, 30(1):59-73.
44. Walker ARP, Walker BF, Mngomezulu QN: Serum high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in African schoolchildren living near or very far from school. Atherosclerosis 1982, 41:35-40.
45. Aandstad A, Berntsen S, Hageberg R, Klassen-Heggebø L, Anderssen SA: A comparison of estimated maximal oxygen uptake in 9 and 10 year old schoolchildren in Tanzania and Norway. Br J Sports Med 2006, 40:287-292.
46. Hampshire K, Porter G, Mashiri M, Maponya G, Dube S: Proposing love on the way to school: mobility, sexuality and youth transitions in South Africa. Culture, Health & Sexuality 2011, 13(2):217-231.
47. Oyeyemi AL, Sallis JF, Oyeyemi AY, Mahmud-Amin M, De Bourdeaudhuij I, Deforche B: Adaptation, test-retest reliability, and construct validity of the physical activity neighborhood environment scale in Nigeria. J Phys Act Health 2013, 10:1079-1090.
48. Bere E, Bjorkelund LA: Test-retest reliability of a new self reported comprehensive questionnaire measuring frequencies of different modes of adolescents commuting to school and their parents commuting to work -the ATN questionnaire. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2009, 6(68)
49. Brug J, van Stralen MM, Chinapaw MJM, de Bourdeaudhuij I, Lien N, Bere E, Singh AS, Maes L, Moreno L, Jan N, Kovacs E, Lobstein T, Manios Y, te Velde SJ: Differences in weight status and energy-balance related behaviours according to ethnic background among adolescents in seven countries in Europe: the ENERGY project. Pediatr Obes 2012, 7:399-411.
50. de Wit B, Loman K, Faithfull K, Hinckson EA: Reliability and validity of the hands-up survey in assessing commuting to school in New Zealand elementary school children. Health Promot Pract 2012, 13(3):349-354.
51. Ducheyne F, de Bourdeaudhuij I, Lenoir M, Cardon G: Test-retest reliability and validity of a child and parental questionnaire on specific determinants of cycling to school. Pediatr Exerc Sci 2012, 24:289-311.
52. Evenson KR, Birnbaum AS, Bedimo-Rung AL, Sallis JF, Voorhees CC, Ring K, Elder JP: Girls? perception of physical environmental factors and transportation: reliability and association with physical activity and active transport to school. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2006, 3(28).
53. Evenson KR, Neelon B, Ball SC, Vaughn A, Ward DS: Validity and reliability of a school travel survey. J Phys Act Health 2008, 5(Suppl 1):S1-S15.
54. Heelan KA, Donnelly JA, Jacobsen DJ, Mayo MS, Washburn R, Greene L: Active commuting to and from school and BMI in elementary school children -preliminary data. Child Care Health Dev 2005, 31(3):341-349.
55. Hermoso S, Perez-Garcia M, Chillon P, Ruiz JR: Test-retest reliability of questionnaire on the mode of commuting to and from school among children [Spanish]. Gac Sanit 2013, 27(2):184-189.
56. Kelly P, Doherty AR, Hamilton A, Matthews A, Batterham AM, Nelson M, Foster C, Cowburn G: Evaluating the feasibility of measuring travel to school using a wearable camera. Am J Prev Med 2012, 43(5):546-550.
57. Larouche R, Faulkner G, Tremblay MS: Assessing the influence of the transition from primary to secondary school on the volume of active school transport and physical activity: a prospective pilot-study. Bioenergetics 2013, 2(1).
58. McDonald NC, Dwelley AE, Combs TS, Evenson KR, Winters RH: Reliability and validity of the Safe Routes to School parent and students survey. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2011, 8(56).
59. Mendoza JA, Watson K, Baranowski T, Nicklas TA, Uscanga DK, Hanfling MJ: Validity of instruments to assess students? travel and pedestrian safety. BMC Public Health 2010, 10(257).
60. Philippaerts RM, Matton L, Wijndaele K, Balduck A-L, de Bourdeaudhuij I, Lefevre J: Validity of a physical activity computer questionnaire in 12-to 18-year-old boys and girls. Int J Sports Med 2006, 27:131-136.
61. Rodriguez DA, Cho G-H, Elder JP, Conway TL, Evenson KR, Ghosh-Dastidar B, Shay E, Cohen D, Veblen-Mortensen S, Pickrell J, Lytle L: Identifying walking trips from GPS and accelerometer data in adolescent females. J Phys Act Health 2012, 9:421-431.
62. Rosenberg D, Ding D, Sallis JF, Kerr J, Norman GJ, Durant N, Harris SK, Saelens BE: Neighborhood environment walkability scale for youth (NEWS-Y): reliability and relationship with physical activity. Prev Med 2009, 49:213-218.
63. Singh AS, Vik FN, Chinapaw MJM, Uijtdewilligen L, Verloigne M, Fernandez-Alvera JM, Stomfai S, Manios Y, Martens M, Brug J: Test-retest reliability and construct validity of the ENERGY-child questionnaire on energy balance-related behaviours and their potential determinants: the ENERGY-project. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2011, 8:36.
64. Suminski RR, Petosa RL, Poston WCS, Stevens E, Katzenmoyer L: An observation method for determining the number of children and adults walking/biking to elementary school. J Phys Act Health 2006, 3:37-47.
65. Lavrakas PJ: Encyclopedia of survey research methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications; 2008.
66. Landis JR, Koch GG: The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics 1977, 33(1):159-174.
67. Cardon GM, Maes LRD, Haerens LL, de Bourdeaudhuij IMM: Bicycling to school during the transition from childhood to adolescence: a six-year longitudinal study. Pediatr Exerc Sci 2012, 24(3):369-383.
68. Andersen LB, Lawlor DA, Cooper AR, Froberg K, Anderssen SA: Physical fitness in relation to transport to school in adolescents: the Danish youth and sports study. Scand J Med Sci Sports 2009, 19:406-411.
69. Christiansen LB, Toftager M, Schipperijin J, Ersbøll AK, Giles-Corti B, Troelsen J: School site walkability and active school transport -association, mediation and moderation. J Transport Geogr 2014, 34:7-15.
70. Cooper AR, Wedderkopp N, Wang N, Andersen LB, Froberg K, Page AS: Active travel to school and cardiovascular fitness in Danish children and adolescents. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2006, 38(10):1724-1731.
71. Ostergaard L, Grontved A, Borrestad LAB, Froberg K, Gravesen M, Andersen LB: Cycling to school is associated with lower BMI and lower odds of being overweight or obese in a large population-based study of Danish adolescents. J Phys Act Health 2012, 9(5):617-625.
72. Pabayo R, Gauvin L, Barnett TA: Longitudinal changes in active transportation to school in Canadian children aged 6 through 16 years. Pediatrics 2011, 128(2):e404-e413.
73. Martin SL, Lee SM, Lowry R: National prevalence and correlates of walking and bicycling to school. Am J Prev Med 2007, 33(2):98-105.
74. Tranter PJ: Effective Speed: Cycling Because it?s Faster. In City Cycling. Edited by Pucher J, Buehler R. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; 2012:57-74.
75. Panter JR, Jones AP, van Sluijs EMF: Environmental determinants of active travel in youth: a review and framework for future research. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 2008, 5(34).
76. Larouche R, Barnes J, Tremblay MS: Too far to walk or bike? Can J Public Health 2013, 104(7):e487-e489.
77. Verplanken B, Orbell S: Reflections on past behavior: a self-report index of habit strength. J Appl Soc Psychol 2003, 33(6):1313-1330.
78. Corder K, Ekelund U, Steele RM, Wareham NJ, Brage S: Assessment of physical activity in youth. J Appl Physiol 2008, 105:977-987.