Neighborhood Well-being Research Articles

Ageing and the Case of Democratic Medicine in Japan.

Aging populations present serious challenges to societies for the provision of care and support for their eldest members. These include increased demands on families for care at home, shortages of professional care workers and facilities, and financial strains on governmental budgets. However, these conditions also provide space for the elderly to adapt institutions to secure care and support. This essay examines the ways the elderly work through Min-Iren, a federation of medical institutions in Japan, to meet their needs. Premised on a "democratic" model of solidarity, Min-Iren institutional structure provides participating elderly substantial power to modify ostensibly medical institutions. Drawing from 18months of fieldwork, this essay ethnographically explores how the elderly refashion Min-Iren clinics and hospitals to offer venues for socializing, community building, and political action as well as conventional medical care. On the medical side, Min-Iren institutions enact a form of coproduction of health. However, interpreted from the perspective of social capital, Min-Iren institutions' forays into local social milieus resemble activities of civic organizations and foster social engagement, collective action, and social support. In the hands of the elderly, Min-Iren medical institutions, thus, endeavor to improve individual and neighborhood wellbeing in ways beyond medical care. Min-Iren's model that centers participation and local ownership is general and can be applied to other contexts.

RESILIENCE AND HEALTH AMONG CHINESE OLDER ADULTS: FINDINGS FROM THE U.S. AND CHINA

The new framework of resilient aging has gained its importance in recent years. This symposium provides new findings on resilience and health among the Chinese population. Using data collected among 430 Chinese older adults in Honolulu, the first presentation examines resilience as an explanatory mechanism linking neighborhood social environment and well-being. Results showed that neighborhood cohesion was positively related to psychological well-being and life satisfaction. Resilience contributed to a substantial portion of the associations. Using the same data, the second presentation examines the association between immigrant status and oral health related quality of life (OHQoL) and the moderating role of resilience. Findings showed that U.S.-born Chinese immigrant older adults had better OHQoL than their foreign-born Chinese American counterparts. Resilience was positively associated with OHQoL for the former but not for the latter. The third paper presents findings from the same dataset along with a survey of 800 older adults in Wuhan, China. The positive relationship between attitudes towards aging and self-rated health (SRH) was found to be moderated by resilience such that higher levels of resilience weakened this association substantially. Both the positive focal relationship and the moderating effect appeared to be stronger among participants in Honolulu. Using both datasets, the fourth paper investigates patterns of intergenerational transfer and their relationships with SRH as well as the meditating effect of resilience. Findings highlighted the beneficial health effects of receiving emotional support from adult children as well as the mediating role of resilience for older females in both study sites.

Correction to: Community Well-Being in Neighbourhoods: Achieving Community and Open-Minded Space through Engagement in Neighbourhoods

Correction to: Community Well-Being in Neighbourhoods: Achieving Community and Open-Minded Space through Engagement in Neighbourhoods

Sustainable Urbanisation and Community Well-Being in Suburban Neighbourhoods in Beijing, China

Rapid outward expansion of urban land in many of China’s cities has resulted in the production of spatially diverse suburban areas, including newly developed residential complexes and the incorporation of existing neighbourhoods into the urban fabric. The concept of ‘community well-being’ provides a useful framework to examine the relationship between the well-being of individuals and the physical environment and spatial conditions in which they live. While the study of subjective well-being and its determinants has been rapidly established in China, most research tends to be at the city and provincial level. By adopting a spatial planning perspective, this paper aims to make an original contribution by examining community well-being in Beijing’s suburban neighbourhoods, which formed via the rapid suburbanisation process underway since the 1990s. The underlying dynamics and spatial variations of community well-being are assessed by subjective and objective measures and taking both personal attributes and neighbourhood environmental factors into account to draw out policy implications for sustainable urban development.

Community Well-Being in Neighbourhoods: Achieving Community and Open-Minded Space through Engagement in Neighbourhoods

This article identifies an opportunity to reinvigorate our theoretical understanding of community well-being at the neighbourhood scale as increasing numbers of cities around the world turn their attention to neighbourhood scale redevelopment of model sustainable communities. We identify three primary theoretical axes for this reinvention of the notion of the neighbourhood scale community, all oriented toward a philosophical approach derived from American pragmatism. First is the reorientation of older ideas of the political project of building the Great Society toward an alternative project of building the Great Community, via the work of “commoning,” which respects the value of diversity, democratic participation and communication. Second is the work of not merely placemaking but also politically constituting the public sphere within public spaces at the neighbourhood scale. Third and finally is the reinvention of our theories of social and political engagement in the public sphere as not only serving representative democratic process, nor distinguishing simply between classes of active versus inactive participants in public life, but as identifying the actual regimes of engagement directing and mediating participation in the neighbourhood community sphere.

Domains and levels of physical activity are linked to adult mental health and wellbeing in deprived neighbourhoods: A cross-sectional study

Although relationships between participating in physical activity (PA) and positive mental health and wellbeing are well established, little is known about the relative contributions of the different domains of PA —household, occupational, active travel, leisure and sport, family activities— to total PA and, in turn, to mental health and wellbeing. This is particularly important for deprived communities where PA is low and mental health and wellbeing poor.Using multivariate multilevel regression of cross-sectional survey data collected in 2011, we examined self-reported PA levels and the domains and diversity of sources of PA among 2654 residents of 32 deprived neighbourhoods in Glasgow, UK, and their associations with measures of mental health, positive mental wellbeing, and physical and general health.Household chores and active travel were the most commonly cited PAs. People achieving PA from family activities, and those doing more diverse PAs, had better mental wellbeing. Active travel was associated with better mental wellbeing and mental health among the highly and moderately physically active, respectively. Highly active people who engaged in leisure-based PA had better mental health. Long-standing illness was associated with worse health scores, although mental wellbeing was ameliorated amongst those who did domestic or occupational PA.It is important to encourage greater diversity of PA in disadvantaged areas, including leisure and family activities and active travel for those out of work with low PA. Nevertheless, interventions aimed at managing long-term health conditions and providing employment may be of even greater importance.

Kenyan “Nyumba Kumi” Neighborhood Information System using Artificial Intelligence

our daily life, we need to engage with our neighbors on several issues ranging from social, security and general neighborhood wellbeing. In this regard, we have designed a nyumba kumi information system which uses artificial intelligence and the facts stored in its knowledge base to answer various nyumba kumi neighborhood queries. We collected a sample nyumba kumi concerns and converted them into facts and the system rules. Hence, we fed the system with sample facts converted into predicate logics, which we collected from a certain nyumba kumi neighborhood. The system is able to answer various neighborhood queries using artificial intelligence knowledge from the facts and rules fed into the system, which we designed using prolog. The system could be customized by adding as many facts and rules as possible as long as the facts and rules are not contradicting.

NEIGHBORHOOD SAFETY, SOCIAL COHESION, AND WELL-BEING OF OLDER ADULTS

NEIGHBORHOOD SAFETY, SOCIAL COHESION, AND WELL-BEING OF OLDER ADULTS

Beyond Broken Windows: Youth Perspectives on Housing Abandonment and its Impact on Individual and Community Well-Being

This paper presents the findings of a study that used an innovative mixed methods community based participatory research approach that included participatory photo mapping, which combines photography, youth-led neighborhood tours, and advocacy (n = 10); in-depth interviews with youth (n = 21); and spatial analysis of neighborhood factors using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The focus is on youths’ descriptions of the meaning and implications of abandoned housing for their own and their community’s well-being. Youth in this study indicated that abandoned properties signify that no one cares about the neighborhood. A youth-authored version of broken windows theory is presented that can be used to better understand the built environment as an indicator of child and neighborhood well-being. This multi-step cycle, reminiscent of broken windows theory, is as follows: 1) unrepaired signs of incivility signal that no one cares; 2) residents withdraw, become more fearful; 3) untended property becomes “fair game” leading to more crime and incivilities; and finally, 4) a breakdown of community control and individual and community vulnerability. The youths’ narratives are used to highlight research and practice implications and suggest the need for future youth-engaged, community-partnered intervention research to address the effects of housing abandonment.

Mind over matter? The role of individual perceptions in understanding the social ecology of housing environments for individuals with psychiatric disabilities.

There is a disagreement in place-based research regarding whether objective indicators or individual perceptions of environments are better predictors of well-being. This study assessed environmental influences on well-being for 373 individuals with psychiatric disabilities living independently in 66 neighborhoods in the southeastern United States. Three questions were examined utilizing random effects models: (1) How much variance in personal and neighborhood well-being can be explained by neighborhood membership? (2) What is the relationship between participant perceptions of neighborhood quality and researcher ratings of neighborhood quality? and (3) What is the relative influence of individual perceptions, perceptions aggregated by neighborhood, and researcher ratings of neighborhood quality in predicting personal and neighborhood well-being? Results indicate that individual perceptions of neighborhood quality were more closely related to well-being than either aggregated perceptions or researcher ratings. Thus, participants' perceptions of their neighborhoods were more important indicators of their well-being than objective ratings made by researchers. Findings have implications for measurement approaches and intervention design in placed-based research.

A Community-Based Participatory Research Process in a Poor Swedish Neighbourhood

Health is not equally distributed and various neighbourhoods differ from each other in terms of people’s health and other social and economic variables. Numerous efforts are undertaken to develop healthier and more sustainable neighbourhoods, and a key concern in the process is citizen participation. Due to the challenge of conducting research in poor neighbourhood’s complementary research approaches with a more practice-based and democratic knowledge development are needed. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a partnership approach that aims to conduct collaborative knowledge production and to use the research findings for public health interventions. This paper sets out to describe and analyse a community-academic partnership and a CBPR process within a poor neighbourhood in Sweden. Two years of fieldwork were conducted at 26 meetings comprising 84 h in a CBPR group including a researcher, and lay and professional stakeholders. Participatory observation and detailed meeting process-notes were used when doing a qualitative thematic analysis. Eight different developmental phases was identified in the implementation of a CBPR process and four key lessons were found to be important. These were that a community-academic partnership should (1) accept different levels of participation in different phases; (2) openly discuss mutual expectations and individual prerequisites; (3) unmask power and authority; and (4) allow the work to take the time it needs. The design, process, and result of the CBPR project are relevant for local community-academic partnerships using a CBPR approach with the goal of increasing participation as a means of improving people’s health and well-being in poor neighbourhoods.

Well London Phase-1: results among adults of a cluster-randomised trial of a community engagement approach to improving health behaviours and mental well-being in deprived inner-city neighbourhoods

BackgroundWe report the main results, among adults, of a cluster-randomised-trial of Well London, a community-engagement programme promoting healthy eating, physical activity and mental well-being in deprived neighbourhoods. The hypothesis was...

Physical activity and mental wellbeing in deprived neighbourhoods

BackgroundAlthough the links between mental wellbeing and physical activity are well established they have been little studied in deprived populations with high levels of ill-health. MethodUsing a novel combination of measures of mental wellbeing (WEMWBS) and physical activity (IPAQ), and taking a multilevel modelling approach, we examine the associations of mental wellbeing with physical activity and a set of sociodemographic, personal and residential characteristics in a cross-sectional sample of 3854 adults from 30 neighbourhoods in Glasgow, UK. ResultsThere was a significantly positive relationship between low, medium and high levels of physical activity and mental wellbeing scores, and evidence that potential mental wellbeing gains may be greater in neighbourhoods with relatively low average mental wellbeing. In addition, better mental wellbeing was independently associated with being male, young (16–24 years), in work, with more than basic educational qualifications, a home-owner, and with living in house rather than a flat. ConclusionsThere are potential benefits to mental wellbeing from boosting physical activity among residents of deprived neighbourhoods, especially those with particularly low general levels of mental wellbeing. Person-based interventions supporting physical activity might be successfully incorporated as part of urban regeneration programmes that already provide many of the social and environmental improvements required to enable increased physical activity and improved mental wellbeing. Coming into employment may boost mental wellbeing not only directly, but also indirectly through increased levels of physical activity.

Physical activity and mental wellbeing in deprived neighbourhoods: A potential outcome of urban regeneration

Introduction: Raising levels of mental wellbeing and physical activity are concerns of urban regeneration policy in the UK. Although the links between them are well established they have rarely been studied in deprived populations with high levels of ill-health.

“Subjective” and “Objective” Views of Neighborhood Danger & Well-Being: The Importance of Multiple Perspectives and Mixed Methods

Well-being can be conceptualized and measured in a number of ways and at multiple ecological and ecocultural levels. At the neighborhood or community level, indices of well-being can be constructed using administrative data such as census measures as well as by considering the views of neighborhood residents, both children and adults. In this paper we investigate the congruence, or lack thereof, across aggregated administrative data, children’s views, and parents’ views of neighborhood well-being specifically related to violence and disorder. We argue for obtaining multiple viewpoints to best discern the processes and pathways that link neighborhood conditions with measures of well-being.

Relations between Urban Bird and Plant Communities and Human Well-Being and Connection to Nature

By 2050, 70% of the world's population will live in urban areas. In many cases urbanization reduces the richness and abundance of native species. Living in highly modified environments with fewer opportunities to interact directly with a diversity of native species may adversely affect residents' personal well-being and emotional connection to nature. We assessed the personal well-being, neighborhood well-being (a measure of a person's satisfaction with their neighborhood), and level of connection to nature of over 1000 residents in 36 residential neighborhoods in southeastern Australia. We modeled these response variables as a function of natural features of each neighborhood (e.g., species richness and abundance of birds, density of plants, and amount of vegetation cover) and demographic characteristics of surveyed residents. Vegetation cover had the strongest positive relations with personal well-being, whereas residents' level of connection to nature was weakly related to variation in species richness and abundance of birds and density of plants. Demographic characteristics such as age and level of activity explained the greatest proportion of variance in well-being and connection to nature. Nevertheless, when controlling for variation in demographic characteristics (examples were provided above), neighborhood well-being was positively related to a range of natural features, including species richness and abundance of birds, and vegetation cover. Demographic characteristics and how well-being was quantified strongly influenced our results, and we suggest demography and metrics of well-being must be considered when attempting to determine relations between the urban environment and human well-being.

Neighborhood Poverty Impacts Children's Physical Health and Well-Being Over Time: Evidence From the Early Development Instrument

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to investigate how neighborhoods and neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage impact school readiness over time. School readiness was measured using the Early Development Instrument (EDI) for 3 populations of kindergartners in 2001, 2003, and 2005 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. EDI results revealed that mean scores for the EDI domains of (a) physical health and well-being and (b) communication and general knowledge have been decreasing over time, although this varied according to neighborhood. A derived summary measure of socioeconomic disadvantage at the neighborhood level was significantly associated with declining scores in the EDI domain of physical health and well-being. Practice or Policy: These findings suggest a need for policy and programs that address the underlying determinants of poor school readiness scores, such as socioeconomic disadvantage at the neighborhood level.

Well-being, Cultural Capital and Social Inclusion: Immigrants in the Republic of Ireland

This article draws on survey data on child, family and neighbourhood well-being in the Republic of Ireland to examine the nature and extent of immigrant social inclusion. Focusing in particular on results for an area known as ‘the Liberties’ in Dublin, in which immigrants are overly represented, the article specifically examines: (1) the relationship between levels of adult immigrant social inclusion and well-being, (2) child well-being scores of immigrant and Irish families and (3) immigrant and host community perceptions of neighbourhood characteristics. The article also considers how and to what extent immigrant human, social and cultural capital explains these findings.

Children's subjective well-being: International comparative perspectives

We are enjoined by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to take account of the views of children. One way this can be done is by asking children about their lives in sample surveys. This paper is a comparison of the results obtained to sample survey questions on subjective well-being of children at two contrasting levels of analysis—international macro (European Union 29) and national level micro (England). At both levels, children's well-being is accessed in terms of three subjective domains: (1) personal well-being, (2) relational well-being, and (3) well-being at school. At the micro level we also explore neighbourhood well-being. The results show that at the macro level personal well-being is associated with the material and housing circumstances but not family relationships or family structure. Well-being at school is not associated with any variable. Subjective health is only associated with family structure. At the micro level, although many of the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of children are found to be associated with their well-being in the four domains, these factors explain only a small amount of the variation in these well-being domains.

Evaluation of a neighbourhood health and wellbeing programme

Evaluation of a neighbourhood health and wellbeing programme