Background There is growing evidence to suggest that the built environment has far-reaching impacts on myriad of health outcomes. Differences in associations between perceived and objective measures of the built environment on a variety of outcomes, including physical activity and quality of life, have been demonstrated, suggesting there is value in examining both perceived and objective measures of the built environment. However, few studies have compared perceived and objective measures of the built and social environment. Aims Using presence of non-residential destinations, which has been shown to be predictive of physical activity, this study examines associations between perceived and objective data, as well as demographic and behavioral predictors of discordance between perceived and objectively-assessed measures. Analyses will be stratified by urbanicity to determine potential differences between urban and rural communities. Methods Perceived data were collected using the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW) questionnaire on neighborhood environment. Participants (n=1,021) were asked about features of their neighborhood within a 10-minute walk of their house. Objective data was collected using the Wisconsin Assessment of the Social and Built Environment, which assessed street segments in a 400-meter buffer around each SHOW participant's house. Results Overall, there is a relatively high agreement between perceived and objective observations of the built environment (e.g. 72% for presence of a fitness center and 79% for presence of a grocery store). Correlations between perceived and objective assessments vary by item particularly for destinations which have been shown to be most predictive of physical activity. Conclusions Although agreement is good between perceived and objective data on presence of destinations, analysis of predictors of discordance provides useful information for designing studies examining relationships between the built environment and health in the future.
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