Metric properties of the Neighborhood Inventory for Environmental Typology (NIfETy): an environmental assessment tool for measuring indicators of violence, alcohol, tobacco, and other drug exposures.

OBJECTIVES

Establish metric properties of the Neighborhood Inventory for Environmental Typology (NIfETy).

METHOD: A total of 919 residential block faces were assessed by paired raters using the NIfETy. Reliability was evaluated via interrater and internal consistency reliability; validity by comparing NIfETy data with youth self-reported violence, alcohol, and other drug exposure and crime statistics.

RESULTS

Validity and reliability metrics were moderate to exemplary for the total scale and subscales. NIfETy data correlated strongly with crime data and youth self-reported exposure.

CONCLUSIONS

The NIfETy is valid and reliable. Future investigations will explore its use in other urban centers and association to other health outcomes.