Abstract

This article describes the design and character-istics of a questionnaire and an intradomiciliary observation tool developed to assess the housing -neighborhood-health relationship both cross -sec-tionally and longitudinally in the context of urban transformations carried out in populations of high socio-territorial vulnerability. The instruments were developed for the multi-method longitudinal study RUCAS (Urban Regeneration, Quality of Life and Health), a natural experiment aim-ing to assess the quality of life and health impact of a comprehensive Urban Regeneration Program in two social housing complexes in Chile. The de-sign of the instruments followed four main stages: (1) narrative review of the literature to define the dimensions of the study, and of existing measure-ment instruments to identify appropriate items for measuring them; (2) content validation with experts; (3) pre-test; and (4) pilot study. The re-sulting questionnaire, composed of 262 items, considers the different stages of the life course and gender issues. The intradomiciliary observation tool (77 items) is applied by the interviewer. The instruments assess (i) characteristics of the cur-rent residential situation that are known to affect health and will be intervened by the program; (ii) dimensions of health potentially affected by the residential situation and/or by the intervention within the time frame of the study (4 years); (iii) other health and health-related conditions that are relevant, even if changes will not be modi-fied within the time frame of the study; and (iv) relevant socioeconomic, occupational and demo-graphic dimensions. The instruments have shown to be capable of addressing the multidimensional-ity of urban transformation processes in contexts of urban poverty in formal housing.