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Promoting Active Transportation for the Elderly: A Comparative Study of Three Asian Cities |
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Listen to what the team aims and expects of their research project
 Becky P Y Loo |
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Abstract
This research focuses on the promotion of active travel among the rapidly aging population in Asia. It is believed that promoting walking, a kind of active transportation is a cost‐effective measure in the prevention and control of non‐communicable diseases. The proposed study represents an inter-disciplinary and cross-country collaboration among geographers and psychologists in China, Japan and Singapore. It adopts a behavioral approach to examine and compare factors promoting and hindering active travel among the elderly population in the three Asian cities of Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo.
Cross-sectional surveys are used to assess older people’s health status, travel and physical activity patterns and perceived barriers to walk regularly. The survey instruments, including the SF‐12™ Health Survey, SF‐36™ quality of life instrument, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and the short‐form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), are carefully chosen to represent a broad constellation of psychological and behavioural assessment and validation. Older citizens aged 65 and above are recruited from partnered elderly centers to participate in the surveys. Snowball sampling strategy is used to further increase the sample size. In addition, a micro-scale walkability survey (WSS) is conducted to obtain data to evaluate the built environment. Based on the reported intensity of walking patterns, hierarchical linear and nonlinear modeling (HLM) methods are used to explore the influence of individual and environmental factors on the observed walking behavior and health status of the respondents.
By evaluating potential barriers to promote active travel among older people, this study holds potential to provide insights for intervention programs to enhance the physical and mental health of the elderly for healthy aging and successful aging‐in‐place. |
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Team Members |
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Becky P Y Loo
Professor
Department of Geography, University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong, PRC |
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Lam Wing Yee Winnie
Professor
Department of Geography, University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong, PRC |
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Keiki Katagiri
Professor
Institute for Social Gerontology, Nipponkoa Welfare Foundation
Japan |
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Lim Hui Xiang Lena
Research Fellow
Department of Psychological Medicine,
Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine
Singapore |
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