Development and Reliability and Validity Testing of an Audit Tool for Trail/Path Characteristics: The Path...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Recreation Management
• Public Health

Background:

• Reliable and valid audit tools are essential for understanding how trail characteristics influence usage.
• Existing tools may not adequately capture the nuances of trail environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Path Environment Audit Tool (PEAT).
• To assess the reliability and validity of PEAT for evaluating trail design, amenities, and aesthetics/maintenance.

Main Methods:

• The Path Environment Audit Tool (PEAT) was created, encompassing design, amenity, and aesthetics/maintenance items.
• Two independent observers audited 185 trail segments across 6 Massachusetts facilities.
• Kappa statistics, observed agreement, and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used to evaluate reliability and validity against GPS data.

Main Results:

• Most amenity items (15/16) demonstrated moderate to substantial reliability (Kappa ≥ 0.49).
• Design and aesthetics/maintenance items showed variable reliability, with some achieving moderate ICCs.
• PEAT demonstrated strong agreement with GPS-derived measures (observed agreement ≥ 0.77, Kappa ≥ 0.57 for 7/10 comparisons).

Conclusions:

• The Path Environment Audit Tool (PEAT) exhibits acceptable reliability for most primary items.
• PEAT is suitable for use by researchers and practitioners in evaluating trail environments and their impact on use.