Psychosocial and social environmental factors as moderators in the relation between the objective environment and older adults’ active transport

In order to develop tailored interventions aiming to encourage active transport among older adults, it is important to gain insights into the modifiable moderators affecting active transport behavior considering the neighborhood in which one lives. Therefore, this study aimed to determine which objective physical environmental factors have an impact on the active transport behavior of Belgian older adults (≥65 years old) and which psychosocial and social environmental moderators influence those relationships. Data from 503 independent living older adults who participated the Belgian Environmental Physical Activity Study in Seniors were included. Multilevel negative binominal regression models (participants nested in neighborhoods) with log link function were fitted for the analyses. Our resulted indicated that older adults living in an environment with higher residential density, higher park density, lower public transport density, and more entropy index had higher active transport levels. Furthermore, different types of neighborhood in which older adults live can lead to different moderators that are decisive for increasing older adults’ active transport behavior. Therefore, based on our results some recommendations towards tailored interventions could be given to increase older adults’ active transport behavior depending on the environment in which one lives

Which environmental factors most strongly influence a street's appeal for bicycle transport among adults? : a conjoint study using manipulated photographs

BACKGROUND: Micro-environmental factors (specific features within a streetscape), instead of macro-environmental factors (urban planning features), are more feasible to modify in existing neighborhoods and thus more practical to target for environmental interventions. Because it is often not possible to change the whole micro-environment at once, the current study aims to determine which micro-environmental factors should get the priority to target in physical environmental interventions increasing bicycle transport. Additionally, interaction effects among micro-environmental factors on the street's appeal for bicycle transport will be determined. METHODS: In total, 1950 middle-aged adults completed a web-based questionnaire consisting of a set of 12 randomly assigned choice tasks with manipulated photographs. Seven micro-environmental factors (type of cycle path, speed limit, speed bump, vegetation, evenness of the cycle path surface, general upkeep and traffic density) were manipulated in each photograph. Conjoint analysis was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Providing streets with a cycle path separated from motorized traffic seems to be the best strategy to increase the street's appeal for adults' bicycle transport. If this adjustment is not practically feasible, micro-environmental factors related to safety (i.e. speed limit, traffic density) may be more effective in promoting bicycle transport than micro-environmental factors related to comfort (i.e. evenness of the cycle path surface) or aesthetic (i.e. vegetation, general upkeep). On the other hand, when a more separated cycle path is already provided, micro-environmental factors related to comfort or aesthetic appeared to become more prominent. CONCLUSIONS: Findings obtained from this research could provide advice to physical environmental interventions about which environmental factors should get priority to modify in different environmental situations

Parents' and adolescents' perception of traffic- and crime-related safety as correlates of independent mobility among Belgian adolescents

The independent mobility (IM), defined as the freedom of young people to travel without adult supervision, has been related to the physical activity time, the acquisition of personal autonomy, to less intense fear of crime, and to a stronger feeling of being part of their community and other health and social benefits. The aims of this study were to compare parents' and adolescents' traffic- and crime-related safety perceptions of their neighborhood and to analyze the associations of these perceptions with adolescents' IM. A total of 291 adolescents and their parents completed the Neighborhood Environment Walkability Scale (NEWS) questionnaire. Multilevel (two-level models: individual levelÐneighborhood level) regression analyses were conducted to examine whether the environmental perceptions differed between parents and adolescents and the association between the parental and adolescents' perception to the IM and the active independent mobility (AIM). Parents reported a more negative perception of traffic (except for amount and speed) and crime-related safety. Adolescents' environmental perceptions were not associated with their IM but parental perceptions of traffic- and crime-related safety were associated with IM and with active IM, although not all associations were in the expected direction. Future urban policy efforts should address environments where parents perceive sufficient levels of safety to increase the levels of IM in adolescents.This study was supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport [CAST17/00072] and by a grant from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) [FWO12/ PDO/158]. Additional support was obtained from the University of Granada, Plan Propio de InvestigacioÂn 2016, Excellence actions: Excellence Units, Scientific Excellence Unit on Exercise and Health (UCEES)

Opinions toward physical activity, sedentary behavior, and interventions to stimulate active living during early retirement: a qualitative study in recently retired adults

This study aimed to obtain qualitative information about physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviors (SB)and their determinants, and about recently retired adults' needs regarding PA interventions. Four focus group interviews were organized. The most commonly reported PA types were walking, cycling, swimming and fitness. The most commonly reported SB were reading, TV viewing, and computer use. Car use was limited. Most adults agreed their habits had changed during retirement. The most striking PA determinant was the feeling of being a 'forgotten group' and therefore having too few tailored PA initiatives available. Furthermore, participants were not aware of the negative health effects of SB and not motivated to decrease their SB. Concerning new PA interventions, very diverse ideas were put forward, reflecting the diversity of the target group. It seems that a dynamic intervention in which participants can choose which PA type they want to increase is preferable for recently retired adults

Using virtual reality to investigate physical environmental factors related to cycling in older adults : a comparison between two methodologies

Introduction: Cycling has a positive impact on physical, mental and social health, and slows the aging process. However, there is still a large potential to increase the cycling levels in Belgian older adults. In order to promote cycling for transport, safe and attractive street characteristics have previously been investigated by using cross-sectional surveys and manipulated photographs. As VR-technology is still rarely used in transportation research, the aim of this study was to develop and compare the use of two different novel VR-applications, i.e. cycling in a 3D-CAVE and cycling with a VR-headset, as experimental approaches with regard to the sense of presence, the representation of the reality, and simulator sickness. Furthermore, the moderating effects of personal characteristics and test sequence were investigated. Methods: In total, 108 older adults (>= 65 years) participated in the cross-over experiment. The participants performed two cycling tests (i.e. cycling through virtually displayed existing streets in Ghent) using both VR-applications (3D-CAVE and VR-headset) in random order. After each cycle test, participants had to complete the same questionnaire. Results: Both VR-methodologies are equally good to be used among older adults (>= 65 years) in future research, i.e. identify which characteristics in the physical environment have an impact on cycling for transport. Additionally, there are no specific requirements for particular target groups regarding the kind of VR-application. General preference was given to the test setup that was completed in second place, indicating the importance of habituation to the virtual environment. Conclusions: Both VR-applications can be used in future research. The advantage of the VR-headset in comparison to the 3D-CAVE, is that the VR-headset is more practical to use at different locations. Especially in regard to the older populations, it is more convenient to bring the test setup closer to the subjects themselves

The effect of changing micro-scale physical environmental factors on an environment\u27s invitingness for transportation cycling in adults : an exploratory study using manipulated photographs

Previous studies have shown convincing evidence for positive relationships between transportation cycling in adults and macro-scale physical environmental factors. In contrast, relationships are less consistent for more changeable, micro-scale environmental factors. The majority of existing studies used observational study designs, which cannot determine causality. The present mixed-methods study used manipulated photographs to determine causal relationships between micro-scale environmental factors and the environment's invitingness for transportation cycling. Further, interactions among environmental factors and moderating effects of gender, age and educational level were investigated. For this study, panoramic photograph of a street was manipulated on eight environmental factors: traffic, speed bump, general upkeep, evenness of the cycle path, vegetation, separation of motorized traffic, separation with sidewalk and cycle path width. Sixty-six middle-aged adults participated in the study and sorted the manipulated panoramic photographs from least to most inviting to cycle for transportation. Participants also provided qualitative data on how they sorted the streets. Multilevel cross-classified modelling was used to analyse the relationships between the environmental manipulations and the invitingness-scores. The qualitative data were deductively categorized according to the environmental factors. All environmental factors, except for separation with sidewalk, proved to have a significant main effect on the invitingness-score for transportation cycling. Cycle path evenness appeared to have the strongest effect on the invitingness. This effect was even stronger in an environment with good compared to poorly overall upkeep. Another significant interaction effect showed that the invitingness decreased when both separations along the cycle path were present compared to only a separation with traffic. No moderating effects of the demographic factors on these relationships were found. Qualitative data confirmed the observed quantitative relationships and added depth and understanding. Current study shows that the use of manipulated photographs can be an effective way to examine environment-physical activity relationships. Our findings indicate that evenness of the cycle path may be a crucial environmental factor when aiming to increase a street's invitingness for transportation cycling among middle-aged adults. The findings of our exploratory study could be used to develop an environmental intervention to determine if our findings are applicable to real changes in cycling behavior

Does the effect of micro-environmental factors on a street's appeal for adults' bicycle transport vary across different macro-environments? : an experimental study

Background : Characteristics of the physical environment can be classified into two broad categories: macro-("raw" urban planning features influenced on a regional level) and micro-(features specifically within a streetscape influenced on a neighborhood level) environmental factors. In urban planning applications, it is more feasible to modify conditions at the neighborhood level than at the regional level. Yet for the promotion of bicycle transport we need to know whether relationships between micro-environmental factors and bicycle transport depend on different types of macro-environments. This study aimed to identify whether the effect of three micro-environmental factors (i.e., evenness of the cycle path surface, speed limits and type of separation between cycle path and motorized traffic) on the street's appeal for adults' bicycle transport varied across three different macro-environments (i.e., low, medium and high residential density street). Methods : In total, 389 middle-aged adults completed a web-based questionnaire consisting of socio-demographic characteristics and a series of choice tasks with manipulated photographs, depicting two possible routes to cycle along. Conjoint analysis was used to analyze the data. Results : Although themagnitude of the overall effects differed, in each macro-environment (i.e., low, medium and high residential density), middle-aged adults preferred a speed limit of 30 km/h, an even cycle path surface and a hedge as separation between motorized traffic and the cycle path compared to a speed limit of 50 or 70 km/h, a slightly uneven or uneven cycle path surface and a curb as separation or no separation between motorized traffic and the cycle path. Conclusions : Our results suggest that irrespective of the macro-environment, the same micro-environmental factors are preferred in middle-aged adults concerning the street's appeal for bicycle transport. The controlled environment simulations in the experimental choice task have the potential to inform real life environmental interventions and suggest that micro-environmental changes can have similar results in different macro-environments

Built environmental correlates of cycling for transport across Europe.

This cross-sectional study aimed to determine which objective built environmental factors, identified using a virtual neighbourhood audit, were associated with cycling for transport in adults living in five urban regions across Europe. The moderating role of age, gender, socio-economic status and country on these associations was also investigated. Overall, results showed that people living in neighbourhoods with a preponderance of speed limits below 30km/h, many bicycle lanes, with less traffic calming devices, more trees, more litter and many parked cars forming an obstacle on the road were more likely to cycle for transport than people living in areas with lower prevalence of these factors. Evidence was only found for seven out of 56 possible moderators of these associations. These results suggest that reducing speed limits for motorized vehicles and the provision of more bicycle lanes may be effective interventions to promote cycling in Europe