Associations between individual factors, environmental factors, and outdoor independence in older adults

Abstract Objectives It is unclear how home environmental factors influence relocation decisions. We examined whether indoor accessibility, entrance accessibility, bathroom safety features, housing type, and housing condition were associated with relocations either within the community or to residential care facilities. Methods We used prospective data over 4 years from the nationally representative National Health and Aging Trends Study in the United States of Medicare beneficiaries 65 years and older living in the community (N = 7,197). We used multinomial regression analysis with survey weights. Results Over the 4 years, 8.2% of the population moved within the community, and 3.9% moved to residential care facilities. After adjusting for demographics and health factors, poor indoor accessibility was found to be associated with moves within the community but not to residential care facilities. No additional home environmental factors were associated with relocation. Discussion One-floor dwellings, access to a lift, or having a kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom on the same floor may help older adults age in place. Understanding which modifiable home environmental factors trigger late-life relocation, and to where, has practical implications for developing policies and programs to help older adults age in their place of choice.

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Predictors of Physical Activity Levels in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Multivariate Approach Based on a Socio-Ecological Framework

Journal of Aging and Physical Activity ◽

10.1123/japa.2016-0286 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 26 (1) ◽

pp. 114-120 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Koren L. Fisher ◽

Elizabeth L. Harrison ◽

Brenda G. Bruner ◽

Joshua A. Lawson ◽

Bruce A. Reeder ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Older Adults ◽

Environmental Factors ◽

The Elderly ◽

Home Care Services ◽

Community Dwelling ◽

Nursing Home Care ◽

Activity Levels ◽

Inverse Association ◽

Cross Sectional

The purpose of this study was to explore cross-sectional relationships between self-reported physical activity (PA) and personal, social, and environmental factors in community-dwelling adults aged 50 years and older. Accounting for clustering by neighborhood, generalized estimating equations were used to examine associations between selected correlates and the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE) score while adjusting for confounders. Data for 601 participants were analyzed: 79% female, 37% married, mean age 76.8 (± 8.7) years, mean PASE score 112.6 (± 64.8). Age, living in seniors’ housing, using nursing/home care services, receiving encouragement to be active, and having benches available in the neighborhood were inversely associated with PASE. Self-efficacy, SF-12 score, PA barriers, social support, and the presence of trails showed positive associations. Several personal, social, and environmental factors associated with PA were identified. The inverse association between PA and living in seniors’ housing units should be considered when developing PA programs for older adults.

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Barriers and Motivators of Bicycling by Gender Among Older Adult Bicyclists in the Midwest

Health Education & Behavior ◽

10.1177/1090198119879731 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 47 (1) ◽

pp. 67-77 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Amanda Grimes ◽

Matthew Chrisman ◽

Joseph Lightner

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Environmental Factors ◽

Online Survey ◽

Ecological Model ◽

The United States ◽

Environmental Barriers ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

The Social ◽

Personal Level ◽

Barriers And Motivators

Introduction. Physical activity (PA), particularly low-impact activities like bicycling, can improve health in older adults. However, bicycling rates are lower in the Midwest than other regions in the United States. Therefore, it is important to identify unique social, personal, and environmental factors that inhibit or promote bicycling, and how these are associated with PA. The influences of these factors were explored using the social ecological model. Method. A cross-sectional online survey was developed using previously validated local and national bicycling questionnaires, then distributed to Midwestern bicyclists 50 years and older. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted to understand the influences of social, personal, and environmental barriers and promoters on bicycling patterns. All models were conducted separately by gender, and accounted for age, race, education, marital status, income, and employment. Results. Social promoters (B = 0.386, p = .002), such as having friends/family that bicycle were associated with greater PA. Personal promoters (B = −0.311, p = .006) such as needing to lose weight were associated with reduced PA. Environmental factors had no associations with PA. However, individual environmental components, such as number of vehicles on the roads, were significantly associated with PA for both males and females. Females reported more barriers than males. The overall model accounted for 16.1% of the total variance in PA levels. Conclusion. Interventions to promote PA via bicycling in older adults should focus on social factors, while also reducing personal-level factors for males. Interventions for females could focus on reducing specific personal, social, and environmental barriers.

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Contribution of colour-zoning differentiation to multidimensional spatial knowledge acquisition in symmetrical hospital wards

Indoor and Built Environment ◽

10.1177/1420326x20909490 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1420326X2090949

Author(s):

Young Hee Min ◽

Mikyoung Ha

Keyword(s):

Environmental Factors ◽

Knowledge Acquisition ◽

Linear Models ◽

Scientific Evidence ◽

Spatial Knowledge ◽

Individual Factors ◽

Survey Knowledge ◽

Differentiation Strategy ◽

Spatial Knowledge Acquisition ◽

Architectural Structures

Symmetrical hospital buildings often use a colour-zoning differentiation strategy to vary the repetition and monotony of their architectural structures. However, there is scarce scientific evidence or systematized research regarding the cognitive effects of interior colour schemes applied to the entire building. The present study investigated the effect of colour schemes combined with geometric plan configurations on multidimensional spatial knowledge acquisition. In total, 192 participants navigated 12 virtual environments – combinations of three distinct geometric plans and four colour schemes of varying contrasts and hues. Generalised linear models were used to predict the effects of environmental factors (plan configurations and colour schemes) and individual factors (age, gender, sense of direction and gaming experience). The results indicated that the colour scheme significantly contributed only to landmark and route knowledge, and acquiring survey knowledge was only significantly affected by plan configuration. Women were more significantly influenced by environmental factors and men by individual factors, regardless of varied environmental attributes.

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Time, Place and Home: Exploring Meanings of Home in Vancouver

City and Community ◽

10.1111/cico.12362 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 238-256 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Adam Vanzella–Yang

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Natural Environment ◽

Individual Factors ◽

Stepping Stone ◽

Empirical Material ◽

Sense Of Home

Building on recent studies emphasizing how structural and contextual forces shape notions of home, I explore how the experience of home is related to the concepts of time and place. Using 46 interviews with 23 individuals, I investigate how home is defined and experienced by younger and older adults in relationship to Vancouver's particular cultural, geographic, and historical contexts. I find three main ways in which respondents established a sense of home in a city concomitantly known for its livability and unaffordability: the stepping–stone home (a future–oriented sense of home), the despatialized home (a present–oriented sense of home), and the extended home in time (a past–oriented perspective) and in place (a sense of home extended onto the natural environment). My study contributes toward comprehensive understandings of home with new empirical material showing how a taken–for–granted experience results from an interplay between structural, contextual, and individual factors.

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When Culture Influences Genes: Positive Age Beliefs Amplify the Cognitive-Aging Benefit of APOE ε2

The Journals of Gerontology Series B ◽

10.1093/geronb/gbaa126 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 75 (8) ◽

pp. e198-e203

Author(s):

Becca R Levy ◽

Martin D Slade ◽

Robert H Pietrzak ◽

Luigi Ferrucci

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Older Adults ◽

Cognitive Function ◽

Environmental Factors ◽

Cognitive Aging ◽

Self Perceptions ◽

Cognitive Benefit ◽

Study Participants ◽

The Impact ◽

Retirement Study

Abstract Objectives Most studies of aging cognition have focused on risk factors for worse performance and on either genetic or environmental factors. In contrast, we examined whether 2 factors known to individually benefit aging cognition may interact to produce better cognition: environment-based positive age beliefs and the APOE ε2 gene. Method The sample consisted of 3,895 Health and Retirement Study participants who were 60 years or older at baseline and completed as many as 5 assessments of cognition over 8 years. Results As predicted, positive age beliefs amplified the cognitive benefit of APOE ε2. In contrast, negative age beliefs suppressed the cognitive benefit of APOE ε2. We also found that positive age beliefs contributed nearly 15 times more than APOE ε2 to better cognition. Discussion This study provides the first known evidence that self-perceptions can influence the impact of a gene on cognition. The results underscore the importance of combined psychosocial and biological approaches to understanding cognitive function in older adults.

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Bathing and toileting difficulties of older adults in rural China: the role of environment

BMC Geriatrics ◽

10.1186/s12877-020-01919-8 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Changxi Liu ◽

Joelle H. Fong ◽

Jasmon W. T. Hoh ◽

Hailin Wu ◽

Yunsheng Dong ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Environmental Factors ◽

Functional Disability ◽

Rural China ◽

Geographic Location ◽

Northern China ◽

Public Facilities ◽

Functional Capabilities ◽

The Disabled

Abstract Background For older adults, difficulties in bathing and toileting are often the most prevalent in the index of Activities of daily living (ADL). This study aims to examine how environmental factors are associated with difficulty of bathing and toileting among older adults in rural China. Method The data are from the 2014 Thousand-Village Survey (TVS), a national survey of Chinese rural residents of old age. The sample consists of 10,689 subjects, 55 years or older, from 536 villages across all provinces of China. Logistic regressions were applied to examine how difficulty of bathing and toileting was related to environmental factors such as geographic location, neighbourhood amenity, and related facilities of bathing and toileting. Results Older adults living in the Southern regions of China had lesser difficulty in bathing and toileting than those living in Northern China, controlling for other confounders. Better neighbourhood conditions also reduced the likelihood of having such disabilities. Persons who bathed indoors without showering facilities, in public facilities, and outdoors were significantly more likely to have bathing disability than those who showered indoors with facility. Rural older adults who used pedestal pans and indoor buckets for toileting were more likely to have toileting disability than those who used indoor squatting facilities. Conclusion Environmental barriers were associated with functional disability among older adults in rural China, but the disabled individuals may change their environments to adapt to their functional capabilities. Our findings suggest that it is imperative to promote the use of showering facilities and pedestal pans for toileting in rural China.

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PERSONALITY AND FAMILY HISTORY OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AS PREDICTORS OF OLDER ADULTS’ SELF-REPORTED MEMORY PROBLEMS

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igz038.806 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S220-S220

Author(s):

Sakshi Bhargava ◽

Nikki Hill ◽

Jacqueline Mogle ◽

Tyler R Bell ◽

Rachel Wion

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Older Adults ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Family History ◽

Multilevel Modeling ◽

Individual Factors ◽

Memory Decline ◽

Memory Problems ◽

History Of ◽

One Year

Abstract Understanding individual factors (e.g., personality) associated with self-reported memory problems is important to refine identification of individuals at a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Using multilevel modeling, we examined the association of family history of AD and personality traits with self-reported memory problems in older adults (n = 421; 72.21% White; 62.95% female; Mage = 76.69). Results showed that individuals with a family history of AD reported more frequent memory problems and greater one-year memory decline. Similar findings were reported for individuals with higher extraversion scores. Further, older adults with higher neuroticism scores reported greater one- and ten-year memory decline. Neuroticism was positively related to frequency of memory problems, but only among participants with a family history of AD. Findings suggest that higher neuroticism and lower extraversion may increase older adults’ reports of memory problems. Family history of AD may further exacerbate this tendency.

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