Adaptation and Evaluation of the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey in Stores to Assess Mediterranean Food Environments (NEMS-S-MED)

Alba Martínez-García, Julia Díez, Carlos Fernández-Escobar, Eva María Trescastro-López, Pamela Pereyra-Zamora, Carles Ariza, Usama Bilal and Manuel Franco
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Alba Martínez-García: Department of Community Nursing, Preventive Medicine and Public Health and History of Science, Universidad de Alicante, 03690 Alicante, Spain
Julia Díez: Public Health and Epidemiology Research Group, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, 28801 Madrid, Spain
Carlos Fernández-Escobar: Public Health and Epidemiology Research Group, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, 28801 Madrid, Spain
Eva María Trescastro-López: Department of Community Nursing, Preventive Medicine and Public Health and History of Science, Universidad de Alicante, 03690 Alicante, Spain
Pamela Pereyra-Zamora: Department of Community Nursing, Preventive Medicine and Public Health and History of Science, Universidad de Alicante, 03690 Alicante, Spain
Carles Ariza: Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona (Public Health Agency Barcelona), 08023 Barcelona, Spain
Usama Bilal: Public Health and Epidemiology Research Group, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, 28801 Madrid, Spain
Manuel Franco: Public Health and Epidemiology Research Group, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, 28801 Madrid, Spain

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 19, 1-12

Abstract: The Nutrition Environment Measures Surveys are valid and reliable measures of community and consumer food environments. This article describes the adaptation and evaluation of the Nutrition Environment Measures Survey in Stores (NEMS-S) for Mediterranean urban contexts (NEMS-S-MED). Trained raters used the adapted NEMS-S-MED tool to observe and rate food outlets in 21 census tracts and 43 food stores across the city of Madrid, Spain. We evaluated inter-rater and intra-rater reliabilities, construct validity, and the tool’s ability to discriminate between store types and between stores by area-level Socio-Economic Status (SES). Overall, the mean NEMS-S-MED score was 20.7 (SD = 9.8), which ranged from 7 to 43. Most food items displayed substantial or almost perfect inter-rater and intra-rater agreements; the percentage agreement across availability items was almost perfect and kappa statistics were also very high (median κ = 1.00 for inter-rater; κ = 0.92 for intra-rater). Furthermore, the NEMS-S-MED tool was able to discriminate between store types and census tracts of different SES. The adapted NEMS-S-MED instrument is a reliable and valid audit tool to assess the consumer food environment in Mediterranean urban contexts. Well-constructed measurement tools, such as the NEMS-S-MED, may facilitate the development of effective policy interventions to increase healthy food access and affordability.

Keywords: food environment; food retail; measurement; Nutrition Environment Measures Surveys (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:19:p:7031-:d:419866

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