New HEAL Study: Validating the Perceived Active School Travel Enablers and Barriers – Child (PASTEB-C) questionnaire

• Post by: Olivia Teresa Caruso
• 11:29AM Sep 07, 2023
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A team of researchers led by Adrian Buttazzoni with Julia Pham, Andrew Clark, Erika Romanelli-Baird, and Jason Gilliland recently published an article entitled: “Validating the Perceived Active School Travel Enablers and Barriers – Child (PASTEB-C) questionnaire.”

Presently, child-specific tools and instruments related to active school travel (AST) are lacking. This methodological shortcoming often contributes to suboptimal AST behaviour evaluations and intervention programming. The aim of this paper was to develop and validate a theoretically informed child-specific scale regarding multiple perceived barriers and enablers known to impact children’s participation in AST.

A mixed-methods and multi-study scale development approach featuring the application of social-ecological theory, a validation pilot study (n = 80), and test-retest study (n = 96) was conducted in collaboration with children in Ontario, Canada. In tandem with completing cognitive interviews and online surveys, multiple analyses, including a qualitative thematic analysis, along with weighted Cohen’s kappa, Cronbach’s alpha, and confirmatory factor analysis were undertaken.

Qualitative analyses of the developed tool addressed face validity concerns related to the response options and definitions of terms used. Following the reliability analyses of 40 items, two confirmatory factor analyses were run to assess the construct validation of perceived AST barriers and enablers, and resulted in the development of the 24-item Perceived Active School Travel Enablers and Barriers – Child (PASTEB-C) questionnaire.

The developed PASTEB-C questionnaire may be used to inform the programming and development of AST interventions, as well as conduct child-specific AST research.

Citation: Adrian Buttazzoni, Julia Pham, Andrew Clark, Erika Romanelli-Baird, and Jason Gilliland. “Validating the Perceived Active School Travel Enablers and Barriers – Child (PASTEB-C) questionnaire.” Public Health 223, 117-127 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2023.07.031