The Winter Walkability Project: Occupational Therapists' Role in Promoting Citizen Engagement

Abstract

Walkability is one feature of a person-friendly community that citizen engagement can influence. Describe a winter walkability project and how an occupational therapist supported citizen engagement and participation in local policy decision making. Seven stakeholder representatives undertook a participatory research project to address winter walkability. Through focus groups and walking logs, 10 citizens provided feedback on barriers to winter walking and a new sidewalk snow-clearing method. Analysis ascertained factors contributing to winter sidewalk walkability and factors promoting citizen engagement. Results identified reasons for and barriers to walking, perceived reasons for sidewalk conditions, and perceived effectiveness of the snow-clearing intervention. Citizens recommended against using the new snow-clearing method. Factors promoting citizen engagement included individual actions producing nominal results, individual and community-level interest, and development as citizen-experts. IMPLICATIONS This project provides one example of how occupational therapists can take a sociopolitical role and facilitate citizen and occupational engagement.