Active Living Supplemental

The proposed project will build upon the three currently funded rural ALR projects to develop, refine and test a rural-specific environmental audit tool that can be used by policymakers, program staff, planners and researchers to assess the degree to which the natural and built environment of a rural community supports active living. Although the Active Living Research Program of the RWJ foundation has developed and disseminated several such instruments, these tools have been developed specifically
for urban and suburban settings. Thus, a major challenge in our current work has been the adaptation of these instruments to small rural communities where many elements of these instruments are not relevant, but where other physical features of the environment are applicable.