A participatory virtual audit of the built environment for age-friendliness.

backgroundGeospatial studies that consider the relationships between the built environment and health typically rely on researcher-led 'objective' measurement of geospatial attributes of the built environment. Some studies can fail to find expected associations between environments and health outcomes where the geospatial measures do not reflect the experiences or perceptions of people themselves. We took a participatory approach to work with older adults with a concern for falling to assess the built environment in order that we could understand how their assessments relate to researcher assessments. We also wanted to assess whether specific demographic characteristics explained differences in assessments of the built environment between participants. Age-friendly environments can contribute to healthy active ageing. Falling and a fear of falling can lead to restricted outdoor activity. Therefore, understanding how the built environment contributes to fear of falling is important for age-friendly environments.

methodsThe study is a cross-sectional retrospective observational study of the built environment. We worked with older adults in workshop settings to undertake community audits of the built environment in Google Street View. They assessed locations where a fall had occurred. Researchers separately audited the same locations. We used descriptive statistics and ordinal regression cumulative link mixed models to estimate the odds that community members would rank a location one level higher than the researchers.

resultsThere are significant differences in researcher and community auditor assessments of locations of attractiveness. Site related and individual attributes explain variation in how difficult locations were rated for walking, and for concern about falling. Only individual attributes explained variation in site attractiveness. Locations with more trip hazards and steeper slopes were rated as being more difficult to walk and were associated with greater concern for falling.

conclusionsAttributes of the built environment influence perceptions of difficulty walking and concern or falling at specific locations. Furthermore, there are some differences in how researchers and community auditors assess the same locations, meaning that geospatial studies which rely only on researcher assessments may be prone to bias. Involving older people in geospatial studies that measure age-friendly environments can make measurement more reflective of their experiences.