Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Individual, Household, and Neighborhood-Level Factors Affecting the Health and Well-Being of Older Adults

这一博士论文研究项目将调查住房和社区设计如何影响美国大都市地区老年居民的健康和福祉。该项目将重点关注老龄化和个人、家庭和社区层面的建成环境，以解决不同类型城市社区中出现的独特问题。该项目将为如何以更符合老年人需求的具体方式发展建筑环境提供新的见解。项目成果将通过扩大关于老年居民与其家庭和邻里环境有关的健康和福祉的基本知识，为空间社会科学做出贡献。该项目将产生实际影响，促进更具包容性和可持续的城市规划和设计，更好地满足不同老龄化人口的独特需求，特别重视低收入、少数族裔和残疾老年人的经验和需求。该项目将为不同的个人提供基本的研究机会和经验，并特别努力为代表性不足的群体的学生提供参与实地考察和数据分析的研究机会。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生能够建立强大的独立研究生涯。该项目将旨在了解城市景观对“原地老龄化”的挑战，这是一种日益普遍的现象，即老年居民留在他们的长期住所和社区，而不是搬到机构环境中，如辅助生活设施。博士生将确定个人、家庭和邻里层面的因素，这些因素影响老年居民的幸福感和在安全和支持性环境中“就地养老”的能力。这名学生将通过在明尼阿波利斯-圣彼得堡的三个不同地区进行混合方法研究，将地理学和公共卫生的理论和方法联系起来。保罗大都会地区。第一阶段的研究将包括对125名居住在社区的老年居民进行坐下来和移动采访，以及对参与者的住宅和社区进行环境审计和空间分析。第二阶段将包括与一部分参与者进行半纵向的人种学会议。第三阶段与文职人员的面谈和政策分析将侧重于地方规划和政策努力。这项多层次的调查将对老年人和城市环境之间的复杂联系产生新的见解，项目结果将为城市规划和社区设计提供信息，试图满足美国社会老年人的独特需求。

This doctoral dissertation research project will investigate how housing and neighborhood designs affect the health and well-being of elder residents in U.S. metropolitan areas. The project will focus on aging and the built environment at the individual, household, and neighborhood level to address unique issues occurring in different types of urban communities. The project will provide new insights regarding how the built environment can be developed in specific ways that are more consistent with the needs of elders. Project findings will contribute to the spatial social sciences by expanding basic knowledge about the health and well-being of elder residents in relation to their home and neighborhood environments. The project will have practical implications by promoting more inclusive and sustainable urban planning and design that better meet the unique needs of diverse aging populations, with special emphasis on the experiences and needs of low-income, minority, and disabled older adults. The project will provide basic research exposure and experience to a diverse range of individuals, with special efforts made to provide research opportunities for students from underrepresented groups to participate in fieldwork and data analysis. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.The project will aim to understand urban landscape challenges to "aging in place," an increasingly common phenomenon where elder residents stay in their longtime homes and communities instead of moving to institutional settings, such as assisted living facilities. The doctoral student will identify personal, household, and neighborhood level factors that affect elder residents' well-being and ability to "age in place" in a safe and supportive environment. The student will bridges theories and methods from geography and public health through a mixed-methods study in three distinct regions of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. The first phase of research will involve sit-down and mobile interviews with 125 community-dwelling elder residents as well as environmental audits and spatial analyses of participants' homes and neighborhoods. The second phase will involve semi-longitudinal ethnographic sessions with a subset of participants. Interviews with civic staff and policy analysis in the third phase will focus on local planning and policy efforts. This multi-level investigation will produce new insights into the complex connections between elders and urban environments, and project results will inform urban planning and community design that tries to accommodate the distinctive needs of elder citizens in American society.