Investigating the role of public transit on health behaviors among older adults with disabilities

项目总结 1120万(23.5%)的老年人表示出门出行有困难，交通也很有限 进入健康的结构性障碍。有超过700万非驾驶老年人和7-10年的非驾驶年限 在生命的尽头，需要替代的交通选择。缺乏公共交通工具可能会 不成比例地伤害残疾老年人，并可能影响健康行为，如体育活动 和社会参与。身体活动和社会参与是健康老龄化的关键组成部分， 与认知、生活质量和死亡率有关。为此，确定可更改的公共交通 特征，以及它们对残疾老年人的身体活动和社会参与的影响是 这是急需的。这项拟议的研究将考察公共交通对身体活动和社会活动的作用。 有残疾和无残疾的老年人的参与。这项研究将收集公众的基本数据 交通可达性特征，并将其与国家健康和老龄化趋势研究联系起来。具体地说，这 研究将解决以下目标：1)检查自我报告的公共交通使用是否与 有残疾和无残疾的老年人的体力活动和社会参与，2)决定 公共交通系统的可达性与身体活动和社会参与行为有关 在老年人中，3)测试使用公共交通工具部分调节公共交通工具与公共交通工具之间联系的假设 交通特点和(A)身体活动和(B)老年人的社会参与。建议使用的 NHATS是一个丰富的、集成的数据源，它将允许调查公共交通使用是否与 残疾状况导致不同的体力活动和社会参与(目标1)；如果密度和 公共交通系统的可达性与残疾状况相互作用，影响体力活动和社交活动 参与(目标2)；以及残疾、公共交通特点和公共交通使用 塑造老年人的体育活动和社会参与(目标3)。这项研究将检验公共部门 交通系统的通达性与老年人的身体活动和社交参与有关 残疾，一个潜在的干预目标，以优化老年人的能力就地老化。身份识别 可改变的上游因素可以缩小这一人群之间的健康差距。调查结果来自 这项工作将为交通发展和规划提供关于包容性的公共交通系统的信息 有残疾的老年人的权利。

PROJECT SUMMARY 11.2 million (23.5%) older adults report difficulty traveling outside their homes, making limited transportation access a structural barrier to health. With over 7 million non-driving older adults and 7-10 non-driving years at the end of life, alternative transportation options are needed. Lack of public transit accessibility can disproportionally harm older adults with disabilities and may impact health behaviors, such as physical activity and social participation. Physical activity and social participation are key components of healthy aging, associated with cognition, quality of life, and mortality. To this end, identification of modifiable public transit features, and their impact on physical activity and social participation among older adults with disabilities is critically needed. The proposed research will examine the role of public transit on physical activity and social participation among older adults with and without disabilities. This research will collect primary data on public transit accessibility features and link them to the National Health and Aging Trends Study. Specifically, this research will address the following aims: 1) Examine if self-reported public transit use is associated with physical activity and social participation among older adults with and without disabilities, 2) Determine if the accessibility of public transit systems is associated with physical activity and social participation behaviors among older adults, 3) Test the hypotheses that public transit use partially mediates the link between public transit features and (a) physical activity and/or (b) social participation among older adults. The proposed use of NHATS, a rich, integrated data source will allow for investigation into whether public transit use interacts with disability status to result in differential physical activity and social participation (Aim 1); if the density and accessibility of public transit systems interact with disability status to affect physical activity and social participation (Aim 2); and the mechanism through which disability, public transit features, and public transit use shape physical activity and social participation among older adults (Aim 3). This research will examine if public transit system access is associated with physical activity and social participation among older adults with disabilities, a potential intervention target to optimize older adults’ ability to age in place. Identification of modifiable, upstream factors could reduce health disparities among this population group. The findings from this work will inform transportation development and planning about public transit systems which are inclusive of older adults with disabilities.