Measuring Neighborhood: Key Aspects for Multiethnic Older Adults Health Status

描述（由申请人提供）：该导师研究科学家发展奖（K01）旨在为UCSF少数民族老龄化研究资源中心（RCMAR）的早期职业研究者提供进一步的培训，包括测量工具开发和评估，先进的统计方法和定性研究方法。额外的培训将使她能够从事独立调查员的职业，确定造成老年人种族/民族和社会经济差异的关键社会和环境机制。在短期内，在候选人先前工作的基础上，本K01侧重于社区环境作为影响健康和促成健康差距的可能关键因素。她提出了一个职业发展计划，包括课程、培训和研究经验，由资深教师和外部导师组成的指导团队在测量发展、少数民族老龄化、健康差距、定性研究方法和高级统计方法等领域具有专业知识。该研究计划包括三个部分：二次数据分析、定性研究项目和创建新的试点社区测量工具。研究计划的第一部分是分析芝加哥健康与老龄化项目（CHAP），调查社区环境与感知健康状况的横断面和纵向关联。在CHAP中，邻里环境是通过自我报告、街道观察、人口普查数据以及犯罪和交通的二手数据来评估的。研究项目的第二部分是对来自不同种族/民族背景、生活在经济多样化社区的老年人进行密集的半结构化访谈。这些成年人将被问及他们所在社区的意义、他们在社区中使用的资源、他们面临的挑战、他们如何应对困难以及他们的健康状况。访谈数据将分析关键主题。在第三部分中，这些主题将转化为调查项目，以创建一个试点的社区环境测量工具。确定老年人健康差异的机制是全国健康协会五年战略计划的一个优先事项。社区环境可能是至关重要的，因为随着人们年龄的增长，他们可能会更加依赖周围的环境。

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.