Measuring Neighborhood: Key Aspects for Multiethnic Older Adults Health Status

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) proposes to provide the candidate, an early-career investigator with the UCSF Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR), further training in measurement tool development and assessment, advanced statistical methods, and qualitative research methods. The additional training would enable her to pursue a career as an independent investigator identifying key social and environmental mechanisms that create racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities among older adults. In the shorter term, building on prior work of the candidate, this K01 focuses on the neighborhood environment as a possible key factor influencing health and contributing to health disparities. She proposes a career development plan that consists of coursework, training, and research experiences with a mentoring team of senior faculty and external mentors with expertise in the areas of measurement development, minority aging, health disparities, qualitative research methods, and advanced statistical methods. The research program consists of three parts: secondary data analysis, qualitative research project, and creation of a new pilot neighborhood measurement tool. Part one of the research program is analysis of the Chicago Health and Aging Project (CHAP), investigating the cross- sectional and longitudinal associations of neighborhood environment with perceived health status. Neighborhood environment is assessed in CHAP by self-report, street observations, census data, and secondary data on crime and traffic. Part two of the research program is intensive semi-structured interviews of older adults who are from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds and live in economically diverse neighborhoods. The adults will be asked about the meaning of their neighborhood, the resources they use in their neighborhoods, the challenges they confront, how they cope with difficulties, and their health status. The interview data will be analyzed for key themes. In Part three, these themes will be translated into survey items to create a pilot measurement tool for neighborhood environment. Identifying mechanisms for health disparities among older adults is a priority of the NIA five-year strategic plan. Neighborhood environments could be crucial given that as people age they may be more dependent on their immediate surroundings.