A considerable body of literature has investigated how environmental exposures affect health through various pathways. These studies have generally adopted a common approach to define environmental ...exposures, focusing on the local residential environment, using census tracts or postcodes to delimit exposures. However, use of such administrative units may not be appropriate to evaluate contextual effets on health because they are generally not a ‘true’ representation of the environments to which individuals are exposed. Recent work has suggested that advances may be made if an activity-space approach is adopted. The present paper investigates how various disciplines may contribute to the refinement of the concept of activity space for use in health research. In particular we draw on seminal work in time geography, which provides a framework to describe individual behavior in space and time, and can help the conceptualization of activity space. In addition we review work in environmental psychology and social networks research, which provides insights on how people and places interact and offers new theories for improving the spatial definition of contextual exposures.
► Administrative units might not be the best way to delimit environmental exposures. ► The activity space may be more relevant because it accounts for space–time behavior. ► Few studies have theorized how activity spaces may capture contextual exposures. ► We explore how various disciplines may enrich the concept of activity space.
Abstract As their most critical limitation, neighborhood and health studies published to date have not taken into account nonresidential activity places where individuals travel in their daily lives. ...However, identifying low-mobility populations residing in low-resource environments, assessing cumulative environmental exposures over multiple activity places, and identifying specific activity locations for targeting interventions are important for health promotion. Daily mobility has not been given due consideration in part because of a lack of tools to collect locational information on activity spaces. Thus, the first aim of the current article is to describe VERITAS (Visualization and Evaluation of Route Itineraries, Travel Destinations, and Activity Spaces), an interactive web mapping application that can geolocate individuals' activity places, routes between locations, and relevant areas such as experienced or perceived neighborhoods. The second aim is to formalize the theoretic grounds of a contextual expology as a subdiscipline to better assess the spatiotemporal configuration of environmental exposures. Based on activity place data, various indicators of individual patterns of movement in space (spatial behavior) are described. Successive steps are outlined for elaborating variables of multiplace environmental exposure (collection of raw locational information, selection/exclusion of locational data, defining an exposure area for measurement, and calculation). Travel and activity place network areas are discussed as a relevant construct for environmental exposure assessment. Finally, a note of caution is provided that these measures require careful handling to avoid increasing the magnitude of confounding (selective daily mobility bias).
Abstract Objective To examine socioeconomic status as a moderator of the relationship between the built environment and active transportation such as walking or cycling using measures of built ...environment exposure derived from individuals transport trips. Methods The 2008 Montreal Origin–destination (OD) survey provided origin–destination coordinates for a sample of 156,700 participants. We selected participants from this survey that had traveled within the census metropolitan area of Montreal the day preceding the interview, and that were between 18–65 years of age. Measures of connectivity, land-use mix, and density of business and services were collected using 400-m buffers of the trip routes. Logistic regression was used to model the relationship between built environment variables and active transportation. Results Trip routes in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quartile of density of business and services or connectivity translated into greater odds of taking AT (compared to a trip in the lowest quartile). Trip routes in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quartile of land-use mix translated into lower odds of taking AT. Trips in the highest quartiles of connectivity and density of business and services were found to have a weaker association with active transportation if the individual undergoing the trip was from a low SES neighborhood. Conclusion Our results suggest that previous studies finding no effect modification may have been due to the limitation of measurements of exposures to the residential neighborhood.
Background The obesity epidemic among children and youth, and the social gradient in this relationship, could be related to differential exposure to food sources in primary environments. Although the ...positive association between area-level deprivation and fast-food outlets offering high-calorie foods has been well documented, few studies have evaluated food sources around school settings. Purpose This study evaluated the relationships among food sources around schools, neighborhood income, and commercial density. Methods A GIS was used to derive measures of exposure to fast-food outlets, fruit and vegetable stores, and full-service restaurants near primary and secondary schools in Montreal, Canada, in 2005. Food source availability was analyzed in 2009 in relation to neighborhood income for the area around schools, accounting for commercial density. Results For the 1168 schools identified, strong neighborhood income gradients were observed in relation to food sources. Relative to the highest income–quartile schools, the odds of a fast-food outlet being located within 750 m of a low income–quartile school was 30.9 (95% CI=19.6, 48.9). Similar relationships were observed for full-service restaurants (OR=77, 95% CI=35, 169.3) and fruit and vegetable stores (OR=29.6, 95% CI=18.8, 46.7). These associations were reduced, but remained significant in models accounting for commercial density. Conclusions Food source exposure around schools is inversely associated with neighborhood income, but commercial density partly accounts for this association. Further research is necessary to document food consumption among youth attending schools in relation to nearby food source opportunities.
Contextual factors influencing population health have received substantial attention, especially with regard to people’s social networks and the roles of built environments in their activity spaces. ...Yet little health research has considered spatial and social contexts simultaneously, often because of a lack of existing data. This paper presents a tool for collecting relational data on social network and activity space that extends an existing map-based questionnaire with the addition of a name generator. We then illustrate how network analysis provides a useful framework for studying connections between social and spatial contexts using data collected in the Contrasted Urban settings for Healthy Aging research project.
•An interactive tool to collect linked social network and activity space data.•Socio-spatial relations are defined by the location of face-to-face interactions.•Collected data can be modeled as complex networks.•A method to connect social and spatial contexts in health research.
This study examined the influence of walkability on walking behaviour and assessed whether associations varied according to life-stage and population center (PC) size. Walkability scores were ...obtained for the six-digit postal codes of residential neighbourhoods of 11,200 Canadians, who participated in biennial assessments of the National Population Health Survey from 1994 to 2010. Participants were stratified by age-group. Mixed-effects logistic regression models were used to estimate the influence of cumulative exposure to neighborhood walkability on utilitarian and exercise walking by PC size and life-stage. Associations of neighbourhood walkability with utilitarian and exercise walking varied according to age-group and PC size. Exposure to high walkable neighborhoods was associated with utilitarian walking in younger and older adults in all PC sizes, except for older adults living in a medium PC. Living in a highly walkable neighborhood in a large PC was associated with walking for exercise in younger (OR: 1.42; 95%CI: 1.20-1.67) and older adults (OR: 2.09; 95%CI: 1.51-2.89). Living in highly walkable neighbourhood in a medium PC was associated with walking for exercise in older adults (OR: 1.62; 95%CI: 1.15-2.29). These results emphasize the need to consider the size and nature of every community, and the age-group of a population when implementing strategies to promote walking.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Daily mobility has been shown to contribute to the wellbeing of older adults, as it promotes healthy and independent living. However, very little is known about how the complex relationships between ...locations, geographic environments and daily mobility relate to wellbeing. In the current paper, we rely on the concept of ‘motility’ – defined as potential mobility– and the concept of ‘movement’ – defined as actual mobility– to take a step forwards in disentangling the relationship between mobility and wellbeing. We further examine how both motility and movement relate to two complementary definitions of wellbeing: hedonic wellbeing as a measurement of happiness, and eudaimonic wellbeing as the actualisation of an individual’s human potential. To investigate this relationship, we draw up a conceptual framework stressing pathways linking mobility to wellbeing, which we empirically test using structural equation modelling on a stratified sample of 470 older adults. We first quantitatively confirm that motility is defined by access, competences, appropriation and attitudes to modes of transportation. We then observe that motility has direct effects on eudaimonic wellbeing and, to a lesser extent, on hedonic wellbeing. Part of the motility effects on wellbeing are mediated by movement. Separating mobility into motility and movement stresses the independent and complementary role that potential and realised mobility play in shaping older adults’ wellbeing.
事实证明，日常活动有助于老年人的福祉，因为它促进健康和独立的生活。然而，关于位置、地理环境和日常流动性之间的复杂关系是如何与福祉相关联的，我们所知甚少。在本文中，我们依靠“能动性”的概念（定义为潜在流动性）和“运动”的概念（定义为实际流动性），在厘清流动性和身心健康之间的关系方面向前迈出了一步。我们进一步研究了能动性和运动如何与身心健康的两个互补定义相关联：快乐作为身心愉悦的衡量标准，幸福作为个人潜能实现的衡量标准。为了研究这种关系，我们拟定了一个概念框架，强调将流动性与福祉联系起来的途径，我们使用结构方程模型对470名老年人的分层样本进行了实证检验。我们首先从数量上证实，能动性是由交通方式的可及性、能力、占有和对此的态度来定义的。然后我们观察到能动性对幸福有直接影响，在较小程度上，对快乐有直接影响。能动性对福祉的部分影响是由运动介导的。将移动性分解为能动性和运动强调了潜在的和已实现的移动性在塑造老年人福祉方面的独立和互补作用。
Background Cycling contributes to physical activity and health. Public bicycle share programs (PBSPs) increase population access to bicycles by deploying bicycles at docking stations throughout a ...city. Minimal research has systematically examined the prevalence and correlates of PBSP use. Purpose To determine the prevalence and correlates of use of a new public bicycle share program called BIXI (name merges the word BIcycle and taXI) implemented in May 2009 in Montreal, Canada. Methods A total of 2502 adults were recruited to a telephone survey in autumn 2009 via random-digit dialing according to a stratified random sampling design. The prevalence of BIXI bicycle use was estimated. Multivariate logistic regression allowed for identification of correlates of use. Data analysis was conducted in spring and summer 2010. Results The unweighted mean age of respondents was 47.4 (SD = 16.8) years and 61.4% were female. The weighted prevalence for use of BIXI bicycles at least once was 8.2%. Significant correlates of BIXI bicycle use were having a BIXI docking station within 250 m of home, being aged 18–24 years, being university educated, being on work leave, and using cycling as the primary mode of transportation to work. Conclusions A newly implemented public bicycle share program attracts a substantial fraction of the population and is more likely to attract younger and more educated people who currently use cycling as a primary transportation mode.
Studies investigating the association between spatial accessibility to environmental resources from the various places a person visits during daily activities and use of corresponding resources often ...do not account for potential biases related to selective daily mobility. This bias occurs when accessibility is also measured from places intentionally visited to access the resources of interest. The aim of this study was to examine associations between spatial accessibility to sports facilities from multiple places and sport practice while addressing the selective daily mobility bias.
The second wave of the RECORD Cohort was used to examine the relationship between the spatial accessibility to sport facilities and the practice of three sport categories (swimming, racket, and team sports), using multilevel linear probability models (n = 5327 participants) adjusted for individual and contextual characteristics. Street network distance to the nearest sport facility was considered as a measure of spatial accessibility from the residence; from the residence and workplace; from all visited locations (full activity space), biased; and from all locations excluded those visited for sports (truncated activity space), corrected.
The residential and residential-workplace accessibility to facilities was not associated with sport practice. The spatial accessibility to facilities from all places visited (full activity space) was associated with the practice of the three categories of sports (biased relationships). After correcting the bias (truncated activity space), the strength of the relationships was markedly reduced. An association remained only for swimming sports.
This study underlines the need to account for selective daily mobility bias when determining spatial accessibility to resources from the various places visited. Such bias, if not addressed, may result in overestimated associations between spatial accessibility and use, leading to potentially erroneous conclusions in terms of planning.
•Many studies linking spatial accessibility and behaviour ignore daily mobility.•Measuring accessibility in full activity space generates selective daily mobility bias.•Our study quantified and corrected this selective daily mobility bias.
Background: There is growing evidence that neighborhood environments are related to depressive mood in the general population. Older adults may be even more vulnerable to neighborhood factors than ...other adults. The aim of this paper is to review empirical findings on the relationships between neighborhood characteristics and depressive mood among older adults. Methods: A search of the literature was undertaken in PsycINFO and MEDLINE. Results: Nineteen studies were identified. Study designs were most often cross-sectional, included large sample sizes, and controlled for major individual characteristics. Mediational effects were not investigated. Statistical analysis strategies often included multilevel models. Spatial delimitations of neighborhood of residence were usually based on administrative and statistical spatial boundaries. Six neighborhood characteristics were assessed most often: neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage, neighborhood poverty, affluence, racial/ethnic composition, residential stability, and elderly concentration. Selected neighborhood characteristics were associated with depressive mood after adjusting for individual variables. These associations were generally theoretically meaningful. Conclusions: Neighborhood variables seem to make a unique and significant contribution to the understanding of depressive mood among older adults. However, few studies investigated these associations and replication of results is needed. Several substantive neighborhood variables have been ignored or neglected in the literature. The implications of neighborhood effects for knowledge advancement and public health interventions remain unclear. Recommendations for future research are discussed.
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