Background:
Current knowledge on the relationship between the physical environment and walking fortransportation among older adults ([greater than or equal to] 65 years) is limited. Qualitative research can providevaluable information and inform further research. However, qualitative studies are scarce andfail to include neighborhood outings necessary to study participants’ experiences andperceptions while interacting with and interpreting the local social and physical environment.The current study sought to uncover the perceived environmental influences on Flemish olderadults’ walking for transportation. To get detailed and context-sensitive environmentalinformation, it used walk-along interviews.
Methods:
Purposeful convenience sampling was used to recruit 57 older adults residing in urban orsemi-urban areas. Walk-along interviews to and from a destination (e.g. a shop) locatedwithin a 15 minutes’ walk from the participants’ home were conducted. Content analysis wasperformed using NVivo 9 software (QSR International). An inductive approach was used toderive categories and subcategories from the data.
Results:
Data were categorized in the following categories and subcategories: access to facilities(shops & services, public transit, connectivity), walking facilities (sidewalk quality,crossings, legibility, benches), traffic safety (busy traffic, behavior of other road users),familiarity, safety from crime (physical factors, other persons), social contacts, aesthetics(buildings, natural elements, noise & smell, openness, decay) and weather.
Conclusions:
The findings indicate that to promote walking for transportation a neighborhood shouldprovide good access to shops and services, well-maintained walking facilities, aestheticallyappealing places, streets with little traffic and places for social interaction. In addition, theneighborhood environment should evoke feelings of familiarity and safety from crime. Futurequantitative studies should investigate if (changes in) these environmental factors relate to(changes in) older adults’ walking for transportation.