Abstract

PAISANA-MORAIS, Vera; BISPO, Sofia; ENCANTADO, Jorge  and  CARVALHO, Cláudia. A scale to acess the perceived neighborhood walkability in senior citizens. Psic., Saúde & Doenças [online]. 2014, vol.15, n.1, pp.25-35. ISSN 1645-0086.  https://doi.org/10.15309/14psd150104.

Research suggests that perceived neighborhood walkability is positively associated with physical activity (Trost, et al., 2002). In citizens aged 65 years old and over, neighborhood characteristics, namely satisfaction (or insatisfaction) with safety, recreational and leisure facilities, the aesthetic component (Trost, et al., 2002), the existence of sidewalks and access to parks (Booth, 2000), plays an important part in the physical activity practice (Trost, et al. 2002). However the objective neighborhood features can be overshadowed by the subjective assessment that the person does of these same features (Gebel, Bauman, & Owen, 2009; Gebel, Bauman, Sugiyama, & Owen, 2011), which may be even more significant in older individuals (Glass & Balfour , 2003). As far as we know, there are no questionnaires in Portuguese language that assess the perceived neighborhood walkability (perception of the neighborhood characteristics as safe, attractive, near public transportation and other relevant facilities,, and easy walkable among other features) for people over and above 65 years old. This paper presents a Portuguese adaptation and translation of a questionnaire designed to assess this variable in older adults, the Percepção da Acessibilidade Pedonal scale for older citizens (PAP +65). Seventy nine individuals aged more than 65 years (M= 72.3, SD = 6.2), 35 men (44.3%) and 44 women (56.7%), non-institutionalized participated in this inquiry. Participants were recruited from three community centers in the Lisbon area. Exclusion criteria was cognitive deficit (MMSE, Guerreiro et al., 1994), and illiteracy. PAP + 65 factorial structure and psychometric characteristics analysis are presented , and results showed that the PAP+65 can be a useful tool to assess the perceived neighborhood walkability in citizen aged over 65 years, both in research and intervention contexts to promote physical activity in senior citizens.

Keywords : Perceived; neighborhood; physical activity; older adults; scale.

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