IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v164y2016icp1-11.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Older adults' quality of life – Exploring the role of the built environment and social cohesion in community-dwelling seniors on low income

Author

Listed:
  • Engel, L.
  • Chudyk, A.M.
  • Ashe, M.C.
  • McKay, H.A.
  • Whitehurst, D.G.T.
  • Bryan, S.

Abstract

The built environment and social cohesion are increasingly recognized as being associated with older adults' quality of life (QoL). However, limited research in this area still exists and the relationship has remained unexplored in the area of Metro Vancouver, Canada. This study examined the association between the built environment and social cohesion with QoL of 160 community-dwelling older adults (aged ≥ 65 years) on low income from Metro Vancouver. Cross-sectional data acquired from the Walk the Talk (WTT) study were used. Health-related QoL (HRQoL) and capability wellbeing were assessed using the EQ-5D-5L and the ICECAP-O, respectively. Measures of the environment comprised the NEWS-A (perceived built environment measure), the Street Smart Walk Score (objective built environment measure), and the SC-5PT (a measure of social cohesion). The primary analysis consists of Tobit regression models to explore the associations between environmental features and HRQoL as well as capability wellbeing. Key findings indicate that after adjusting for covariates, older adults' capability wellbeing was associated with street connectivity and social cohesion, while no statistically significant associations were found between environmental factors and HRQoL. Our results should be considered as hypothesis-generating and need confirmation in a larger longitudinal study.

Suggested Citation

  • Engel, L. & Chudyk, A.M. & Ashe, M.C. & McKay, H.A. & Whitehurst, D.G.T. & Bryan, S., 2016. "Older adults' quality of life – Exploring the role of the built environment and social cohesion in community-dwelling seniors on low income," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-11.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:164:y:2016:i:c:p:1-11
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.07.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616303628
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.07.008?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mokhtarian, Patricia L. & Cao, Xinyu, 2008. "Examining the impacts of residential self-selection on travel behavior: A focus on methodologies," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 204-228, March.
    2. Bleichrodt, Han & Quiggin, John, 2013. "Capabilities as menus: A non-welfarist basis for QALY evaluation," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 128-137.
    3. Takemi Sugiyama & Catharine Ward Thompson, 2007. "Outdoor Environments, Activity and the Well-Being of Older People: Conceptualising Environmental Support," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 39(8), pages 1943-1960, August.
    4. Coast, Joanna & Flynn, Terry N. & Natarajan, Lucy & Sproston, Kerry & Lewis, Jane & Louviere, Jordan J. & Peters, Tim J., 2008. "Valuing the ICECAP capability index for older people," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(5), pages 874-882, September.
    5. Winters, Meghan & Voss, Christine & Ashe, Maureen C. & Gutteridge, Kaitlyn & McKay, Heather & Sims-Gould, Joanie, 2015. "Where do they go and how do they get there? Older adults' travel behaviour in a highly walkable environment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 304-312.
    6. repec:cdl:itsdav:qt08x1k476 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Leah Couzner & Maria Crotty & Richard Norman & Julie Ratcliffe, 2013. "A Comparison of the EQ-5D-3L and ICECAP-O in an Older Post-Acute Patient Population Relative to the General Population," Applied Health Economics and Health Policy, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 415-425, August.
    8. McNeill, Lorna Haughton & Kreuter, Matthew W. & Subramanian, S.V., 2006. "Social Environment and Physical activity: A review of concepts and evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(4), pages 1011-1022, August.
    9. repec:cdl:uctcwp:qt8bz3z5qm is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Elliott, Jane & Gale, Catharine R. & Parsons, Samantha & Kuh, Diana, 2014. "Neighbourhood cohesion and mental wellbeing among older adults: A mixed methods approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 44-51.
    11. Grewal, Ini & Lewis, Jane & Flynn, Terry & Brown, Jackie & Bond, John & Coast, Joanna, 2006. "Developing attributes for a generic quality of life measure for older people: Preferences or capabilities?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(8), pages 1891-1901, April.
    12. Freedman, V.A. & Grafova, I.B. & Rogowski, J., 2011. "Neighborhoods and chronic disease onset in later life," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 101(1), pages 79-86.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Thesis Thursday: Lidia Engel
      by Chris Sampson in The Academic Health Economists' Blog on 2017-09-21 11:00:49

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shannon Cheung & Xiaoxia Xie & Chien-chung Huang, 2020. "Mind Over Matter: Mindfulness, Income, Resilience, and Life Quality of Vocational High School Students in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-13, August.
    2. Kazak Jan & van Hoof Joost & Świąder Małgorzata & Szewrański Szymon, 2017. "Real Estate for the Ageing Society – the Perspective of a New Market," Real Estate Management and Valuation, Sciendo, vol. 25(4), pages 13-24, December.
    3. Hiroko Kamide, 2021. "The Effect of Social Cohesion on Interest, Usefulness, and Ease of Use of a Driving Assistance System in Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-11, October.
    4. Yue, Yafei & Yang, Dongfeng & Owen, Neville & Van Dyck, Delfien, 2022. "The built environment and mental health among older adults in Dalian: The mediating role of perceived environmental attributes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    5. Sariyamon Tiraphat & Karl Peltzer & Kriengsak Thamma-Aphiphol & Kawinarat Suthisukon, 2017. "The Role of Age-Friendly Environments on Quality of Life among Thai Older Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-13, March.
    6. Fan Zhang & Dezhi Li, 2019. "Multiple Linear Regression-Structural Equation Modeling Based Development of the Integrated Model of Perceived Neighborhood Environment and Quality of Life of Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Cross-," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-15, December.
    7. Danxian Wu & Xiaolu Gao & Zhifei Xie & Zening Xu, 2021. "Understanding the Unmet Needs among Community-Dwelling Disabled Older People from a Linkage Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-15, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mitchell, Paul Mark & Roberts, Tracy E. & Barton, Pelham M. & Coast, Joanna, 2015. "Assessing sufficient capability: A new approach to economic evaluation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 71-79.
    2. Helena Hörder & Susanne Gustafsson & Therese Rydberg & Ingmar Skoog & Margda Waern, 2016. "A Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the ICECAP-O: Test–Retest Reliability and Item Relevance in Swedish 70-Year-Olds," Societies, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-6, September.
    3. Petra Baji & Miklós Farkas & Ágota Dobos & Zsombor Zrubka & Levente Kovács & László Gulácsi & Márta Péntek, 2021. "Comparing the measurement properties of the ICECAP-A and ICECAP-O instruments in ages 50–70: a cross-sectional study on a representative sample of the Hungarian general population," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(9), pages 1453-1466, December.
    4. Kathryn Hale & Truls Østbye & Bilesha Perera & Robert Bradley & Joanna Maselko, 2019. "A Novel Adaptation of the HOME Inventory for Elders: The Importance of the Home Environment Across the Life Course," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-21, August.
    5. Paul Anand & Laurence S. J. Roope & Anthony J. Culyer & Ron Smith, 2020. "Disability and multidimensional quality of life: A capability approach to health status assessment," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(7), pages 748-765, July.
    6. Coast, Joanna, 2018. "A history that goes hand in hand: Reflections on the development of health economics and the role played by Social Science & Medicine, 1967–2017," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 227-232.
    7. Terry N. Flynn & Elisabeth Huynh & Tim J. Peters & Hareth Al‐Janabi & Sam Clemens & Alison Moody & Joanna Coast, 2015. "Scoring the Icecap‐a Capability Instrument. Estimation of a UK General Population Tariff," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(3), pages 258-269, March.
    8. Hareth Al‐Janabi, 2018. "Do capability and functioning differ? A study of U.K. survey responses," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 465-479, March.
    9. Joanna Coast, 2019. "Assessing capability in economic evaluation: a life course approach?," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 20(6), pages 779-784, August.
    10. Cassandra Mah & Vanessa K. Noonan & Stirling Bryan & David G. T. Whitehurst, 2021. "Empirical Validity of a Generic, Preference-Based Capability Wellbeing Instrument (ICECAP-A) in the Context of Spinal Cord Injury," The Patient: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research, Springer;International Academy of Health Preference Research, vol. 14(2), pages 223-240, March.
    11. Munford, Luke A. & Panagioti, Maria & Bower, Peter & Skevington, Suzanne M., 2020. "Community asset participation and social medicine increases qualities of life," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    12. Chikumbu, Edith & Katiti, Victor & Bunn, Christopher & Msoka, Elizabeth F. & Sichali, Junious & Yongolo, Nateiya Mmeta & McIntosh, Emma & Mmbaga, Blandina T. & Wyke, Sally & Coast, Joanna, 2024. "A more equitable approach to economic evaluation: Directly developing conceptual capability wellbeing attributes for Tanzania and Malawi," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 355(C).
    13. Erin M Graybill & Peter McMeekin & John Wildman, 2014. "Can Aging in Place Be Cost Effective? A Systematic Review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(7), pages 1-6, July.
    14. Ottoni, Callista A. & Sims-Gould, Joanie & Winters, Meghan & Heijnen, Myrthe & McKay, Heather A., 2016. "“Benches become like porches”: Built and social environment influences on older adults’ experiences of mobility and well-being," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 33-41.
    15. Simon, Judit & Anand, Paul & Gray, Alastair & Rugkåsa, Jorun & Yeeles, Ksenija & Burns, Tom, 2013. "Operationalising the capability approach for outcome measurement in mental health research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 187-196.
    16. Donna Rowen & John Brazier & Aki Tsuchiya & Mónica Hernández Alava, 2012. "Valuing states from multiple measures on the same visual analogue sale: a feasibility study," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(6), pages 715-729, June.
    17. Karen M van Leeuwen & Miriam S van Loon & Fenna A van Nes & Judith E Bosmans & Henrica C W de Vet & Johannes C F Ket & Guy A M Widdershoven & Raymond W J G Ostelo, 2019. "What does quality of life mean to older adults? A thematic synthesis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-39, March.
    18. Huynh, Elisabeth & Coast, Joanna & Rose, John & Kinghorn, Philip & Flynn, Terry, 2017. "Values for the ICECAP-Supportive Care Measure (ICECAP-SCM) for use in economic evaluation at end of life," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 114-128.
    19. N. Flynn, Terry & J. Peters, Tim & Coast, Joanna, 2013. "Quantifying response shift or adaptation effects in quality of life by synthesising best-worst scaling and discrete choice data," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 34-43.
    20. John Brazier & Jennifer Roberts & Donna Rowen, 2012. "Methods for Developing Preference-based Measures of Health," Chapters, in: Andrew M. Jones (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Health Economics, Second Edition, chapter 37, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:164:y:2016:i:c:p:1-11. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.