Abstract
Background
Census data, GIS, surveys and audits are used to profile “place”, each with shortcomings. There are several “neighbourhood environment” tools, including the “Place Standard” a policy and advocacy tool developed in Scotland. “Place” is not a strong feature in the public health agenda in Cyprus.
Methods
In an internet survey, participants rated 14 features of their neighborhood environment. Exploratory factor, cluster and regression analysis were used to explore the dimensionality of the concept, neighborhood profiles and differences according to individual and area-level characteristics.
Results
With the exception of safety (M = 4.4, SD = 1.7 on a 1: large to 7: little improvement), 492 participants (mean age 42, 50% residents for >10 years) from 266 postcodes (33% islandwide) did not rate other features favourably. A clear dimensionality of Built, Physical, Social and Service environment supports the construct validity of the tool. People who rated their neighbourhood lower on a social position ladder were consistently more likely to rate all contextual neighrbourhood features less favourably. The social gradient was evident according to individual and area measures of socio-economic disadvantage and appeared stronger in terms of the built than the social environment.
Conclusions
The “place standard” shows good metric properties and captures the variability ad inequity in the neighbourhood environment.
Key messages
The “Place Standard” can be used to profile the context of health inequalities.
Evidence of a social gradient across all features with larger differences in terms of the built environment.