Using Walk-Along Interviews to Identify Environmental Factors Influencing Older Adults' Out-of-Home Behaviors in a High-Rise, High-Density Neighborhood.

Yuxin Cao,John Chye Fung,Chye Kiang Heng

doi:10.3390/ijerph16214251

Abstract

Older adults’ out-of-home behaviors (OOHBs) are critical for maintaining health and quality of life. Taking Singapore’s Yuhua East as a case, this study applied a qualitative approach to explore what neighborhood environmental factors influence older adults’ OOHBs. Twelve older adults were recruited for walk-along interviews through the use of purposeful convenience sampling. A content analysis was conducted using NVivo 11 via an inductive approach. Research results revealed 12 categories of environmental factors that affected older adults’ OOHBs: access to facilities (shops and services, public transit, and connectivity), pedestrian infrastructure (sidewalk quality, sheltered walkways, universal design, crossings, benches, and public toilets), aesthetics (natural elements, buildings, noise, and cleanliness), traffic safety (behavior of other road users and road width), safety from crime, wayfinding, familiarity (long-term residency and routine activities), weather, social contact, high-rise, high-density (lifts, population density, flat size, and privacy), affordability (shops and services, as well as transportation), and maintenance and upgrading. This analysis concluded that access to facilities and pedestrian infrastructure are important for older adults’ OOHBs. Considering Singapore’s weather, sheltered walkways, the proximity of facilities and connectivity should be given serious emphasis. In addition to physical factors, social contacts and the affordability of shops and services are also important.

Highlights

Out-of-home behaviors (OOHBs) have been demonstrated to be important for older adults’health and quality of life
Though there have been studies exploring the relationship between out-of-home behaviors (OOHBs) and several socio-demographics, cognitive and physical functions, little emphasis has been put on environmental factors
A higher proportion of participants live in five-Room Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats, probably because older adults tend to have larger household sizes

Summary

Introduction

Out-of-home behaviors (OOHBs) have been demonstrated to be important for older adults’health and quality of life. Out-of-home behaviors (OOHBs) have been demonstrated to be important for older adults’. OOHBs refer to engagement in activities out-of-home as well as the full range of behaviors of moving from one location to another [1,2]. Though there have been studies exploring the relationship between OOHBs and several socio-demographics, cognitive and physical functions, little emphasis has been put on environmental factors. According to environmental docility theory [3], the more incompetent the person, the more dependent they are on environmental factors. The neighborhood environment becomes more and more important for OOHBs in older adults. A neighborhood environment is both physical and social [4]. There have been a number of quantitative articles exploring environmental effects on older adults’ OOHBs, mostly focusing on physical activities such as walking, and the research results have been inconsistent.

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion