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Background: According to a socio-ecological perspective, the neighborhood environment plays a critical role in promoting physical activity across all population groups. A comprehensive assessment of environmental characteristics is a prerequisite to the planning, implementation and evaluation of physical activity interventions. Purpose: This work aims to identify and categorize existing audit tools for the assessment of physical activity related environmental features in order to derive relevant categories and items for the German rural and urban context as well as for different population groups. Methods: We systematically searched relevant databases (e.g., PubMed) to identify existing audit tools. Based on the current evidence, we critically reviewed the instruments regarding context and relevance for population groups. Results: We identified 86 audit tools: 55 community/streetscape audits, 13 audits for parks, trails, or public open spaces, 7 audits for playgrounds or recreation facilities, and 11 digital audits. Most tools were applicable across all age groups (n = 65). In addition, we identified 9 tools for children and adolescents, 9 for seniors, and 3 for people with disabilities/chronic diseases. We found that numerous tools contain items that do not represent the German cultural context (e.g., destinations). We identified few tools developed explicitly for the rural context (n = 3). Conclusions: Our work highlights the need for an instrument reflecting urban and specifically rural peculiarities of the German context. Funding: This work is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Centre for Health Education., The Health & Fitness Journal of Canada, Vol. 14 No. 3 (2021): Proceedings from the 8th International Society for Physical Activity and Health Congress

The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study is an international research project in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) for over 35 years. HBSC is the largest study on child and adolescent health and one of the most important sources of data for the WHO’s international comparative health monitoring. Every four years, data on the health and health behaviour of students aged 11, 13 and 15, as well as the social contexts and conditions for growing up healthy, are collected. A total of 50 countries belong to the HBSC network, with 45 countries taking part in the 2017/18 survey. Germany has contributed to the HBSC surveys since 1993/94. For the most recent 2017/18 cycle, students at 146 schools in Germany were interviewed (response rate of schools: 15.6%). A net sample of n = 4,347 girls and boys was achieved for Germany (response rate: 52.7%). Participation was voluntary and the survey was conducted in German school years five, seven and nine (corresponding to ages 11, 13 and 15). A weighting procedure was applied to allow for representative findings on the health of children and adolescents in Germany. HBSC offers a valuable contribution to health monitoring and provides numerous starting points to identify needs, risk groups and fields of action to initiate targeted and actual needs-based measures of prevention and health promotion in the school setting.

Die „Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC)“-Studie ist ein international kooperatives Forschungsprojekt, das von der Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) seit über 35 Jahren unterstützt wird. HBSC ist die weltweit größte Studie zur Kinder- und Jugendgesundheit und für die WHO eine der wichtigsten Datengrundlagen zur international vergleichenden Gesundheitsberichterstattung. Im vierjährigen Turnus werden Daten zur Gesundheit und zum Gesundheitsverhalten von Schülerinnen und Schülern im Alter von 11, 13 und 15 Jahren sowie zu den Rahmenbedingungen für ein gesundes Aufwachsen erhoben. Insgesamt gehören 50 Länder dem HBSC-Netzwerk an, an dem Survey 2017/18 beteiligten sich insgesamt 45 Länder. Deutschland beteiligt sich seit 1993/94 an der HBSC-Studie. Für die aktuelle Erhebung 2017/18 in Deutschland wurden Schülerinnen und Schüler an 146 Schulen befragt (Responserate Schulen: 15,6 %). Insgesamt konnte für Deutschland eine Netto-Stichprobe von n = 4.347 Mädchen und Jungen (Responserate: 52,7 %) erzielt werden. Die freiwillige Teilnahme an der Befragung erfolgte in ganzen Schulklassen der Jahrgangsstufen fünf, sieben und neun. Mit Hilfe einer Gewichtung sind repräsentative Aussagen zur gesundheitlichen Lage von Kindern und Jugendlichen in Deutschland möglich. Die HBSC-Studie leistet einen wichtigen Beitrag für die Gesundheitsberichterstattung und bietet wichtige Ansatzpunkte für die Identifikation von Bedarfen, Risikogruppen und Handlungsfeldern, um gezielte und bedarfsorientierte Maßnahmen zur Prävention und Gesundheitsförderung im Setting Schule zu initiieren.

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