The geographic accessibility and inequality of community-based elderly learning resources: a remodeling assessment, 2009–2017

Abstract

ABSTRACTContinuous elderly learning activities not only empower elderly populations’ knowledge about health but also enhance these populations’ social connections and social abilities, which can enhance their overall quality of life. Geographic accessibility is a determinant factor for elderly participation in social activities. In this study, we proposed six measurement methods and employed the Gini coefficient to discuss the geographic accessibility and geographic inequality of community-based elderly learning resources. This study provides three methodological contributions for future research. First, we propose an origin–destination cost matrix analysis that incorporates a post-pruning technique. Applying this technique allows for the consideration of policy restrictions in relation to resource utilization. This approach also contributes to the ability to obtain a reliable assessment of the accessibility of resources. Second, this study proposes a new, more direct and convenient, method of calculating the Gini coefficient. Third, we find that the different distance-decay index β indicates the impact of distance factors on the efficiency of resource utilization. The distance-decay index β should carefully discern when distance is under 1 km. These results indicate that assessing accessibility does not only consider length and traffic distance but also requires a deliberate and weighted calculating process depending on the distance, elderly demand population, and supply capacities of learning centers. Although our study focuses on Taiwanese cases, our methodologies and results illustrate possibilities for other contributions that assess geographic accessibility and resource-allocation inequality for elderly learning policy planning and implementation.