Environmental Characteristics Associated with Older Adults’ Social Participation: The Contribution of Sociodemography and Transportation in Metropolitan, Urban, and Rural Areas

Mélanie Levasseur, Daniel Naud, Jean-François Bruneau and Mélissa Généreux
Additional contact information
Mélanie Levasseur: School of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Pavillon Gérald-Lasalle, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1H 5N4, Canada
Daniel Naud: Research Centre on Aging, Estrie Integrated University Health and Social Services Centre—Sherbrooke Hospital University Centre, Sherbrooke, QC J1H 4C4, Canada
Jean-François Bruneau: Interuniversity Research Centre on Enterprise Networks, Logistics and Transportation, Montreal, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Mélissa Généreux: Department of Community Health Sciences, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC J1H 5N4, Canada

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 22, 1-15

Abstract: Although social participation fosters older adults’ health, little is known about which environmental characteristics are related to greater participation in social activities. The Canadian Community Health Survey ( n = 2737), a transportation survey, and multiple secondary data sources were used to identify the environmental characteristics associated with older Quebecers’ social participation according to living area. Greater social participation was associated with: (1) a higher concentration of older adults (IRR = 2.172 (95% CI 1.600, 2.948); p < 0.001), more kilometers traveled by paratransit (IRR = 1.714 (95% CI 1.286, 2.285); p < 0.01), a lack of medical clinics (IRR = 0.730 (95% CI 0.574, 0.930); p = 0.01), and more funded home adaptations (IRR = 1.170 (95% CI 1.036, 1.320); p = 0.01) in large metropolitan areas; (2) larger paratransit fleets (IRR = 1.368 (95% CI 1.044, 1.791); p = 0.02) and a lower density of road intersections (IRR = 0.862 (95% CI 0.756, 0.982); p = 0.03) in regular metropolitan areas; (3) less social deprivation (IRR = 1.162 (95% CI 1.025, 1.318); p = 0.02) in urban areas; and (4) a higher concentration of older populations (IRR = 2.386 (95% CI 1.817, 3.133); p < 0.001) in rural areas. According to these findings, social participation interventions should target the local environment—for example, by providing more social interaction opportunities for older adults living in younger neighborhoods and by improving access to public transportation, especially paratransit.

Keywords: population health; transportation; paratransit; regression; monthly social engagements; local environment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8399/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/22/8399/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:22:p:8399-:d:444389

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().