Expectations and Planning for Future Transportation-Related Mobility in Adults 55-84.

aging;mixed methods;Public Health;Social Sciences;Health Behavior & Health Education

Harmon, AnnieMeuser, Thomas Michael ;

University of Michigan

关键词: aging;    mixed methods;    Public Health;    Social Sciences;    Health Behavior & Health Education;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/135776/harmonac_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Older adults must balance their needs for mobility with physical or cognitive changes that may reduce driving abilities and potentially increase driving-related risk. Unfortunately, older drivers often avoid planning for possible future mobility needs, despite being inundated with information from many sources. Preliminary qualitative interviews examined drivers’ and other stakeholders’ mental models of the issues involved in driving cessation. While interviewees recognized the need for planning, they also explicitly acknowledged that preparing for future mobility needs was rare and suggested several contextual factors as potentially important factors that influence older adult’s driving decisions. Based on these interviews, a subsequent, quantitative survey examined behaviors and beliefs of middle-aged and older adults from two populations: predominantly Black respondents in Detroit, MI (n=445) and White respondents from the Ann Arbor, MI area (n=134). Overall, the results provide evidence that mobility planning is not a one-size-fits-all solution. For example, mobility planning appears to be as rare among older drivers as among middle-aged drivers, suggesting that mobility planning does not occur spontaneously as people age. However, respondents who had prepared for other future situations (e.g., retirement or healthcare needs) consistently reported more mobility planning as well. In these data, Black/African-American drivers reported more mobility planning than Whites/Caucasians, but it remains unclear whether these differences are due to race, urban context, or other potential differences. The total number of Cues to Action, or events that made people consider changing their driving, also significantly predicted mobility planning. However, regression model findings varied depending on whether mobility planning was measured subjectively versus as a summed score of objective planning behaviors. Taken together, these findings indicate that mobility planning is indeed a multidimensional construct, one clearly associated with drivers’ experiences on and off the road. The dissertation committee is comprised of Brian J. Zikmund-Fisher (chair, Health Behavior and Health Education), Cathleen M Connell (Health Behavior and Health Education), Thomas M. Meuser (extramural member, Gerontology, University of Missouri – St. Louis), and Ruth E. Dunkle (cognate member, Social Work).