Development, Evaluation, and Validation of Environmental Assessment Tools to Evaluate the College Nutrition Environment

Objective: To develop, evaluate, and validate 2 nutrition environment assessment tools (surveys), for specific use in combating overweight on college/university campuses. Participants and Methods: Invitations to complete surveys were e-mailed to food service and health center directors at 47 universities, Winter 2008. Overall response rate was 48%. Responses from the 39 individuals who completed tool evaluations at the end of each survey were analyzed. Follow-up interviews and site visits performed through Summer 2008 validated responses. Results: The majority of respondents (64%) indicated tools were effective at assessing their nutrition environments; 78% believed these types of assessment tools to be important to their school. Conclusion: Food service and health center directors support use of nutrition environment assessment tools and found them effective at clarifying existing nutrition programs, policies, and food offerings on their campuses. Conducting assessments using these tools could improve university nutrition environments by identifying areas needing improvement.