Assessing modes and frequency of commuting to school in youngsters: a systematic review

The first objective was to review and analyze self-reported measures used for assessing mode and frequency of commuting to and from school in youngsters (4-18.5 years old). The secondary objective was to conduct a qualitative appraisal of the identified studies. We searched five online databases: PubMed, SportDiscus, ProQuest, National Transportation Library, and Web of Knowledge. Four categories of search terms were identified: self-report, active transportation, school-aged children and school. Titles and abstracts were reviewed to determine whether the studies met the inclusion criteria. The quality of the reporting of the measures was assessed using a tailored list. The electronic search strategy produced 5,898 studies. After applying the inclusion criteria, we identified 158 studies. Sixty-three studies (39.8%) specified the question about modes of commuting to school. One hundred seven studies (67.7%) directly questioned the study subjects (i.e., children and/or adolescents). Twenty studies (12.7%) posed a valid and reliable question. The quality assessment of the self-report measures was medium. The self-report measures used in the literature for assessing commuting to school tend to be heterogeneous and make difficult interstudies comparisons. Therefore we put forward the idea of a standard question designed to elicit reliable, comparable information on commuting to school.