Duncan Dustin T, Regan Seann D, Shelley Donna, Day Kristen, Ruff Ryan R, Al-Bayan Maliyhah, Elbel Brian
Department of Population Health, New York University School of Medicine, New York, USA.
Department of Technology, Culture and Society, New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering, New York, USA.
Geospat Health. 2014 Nov;9(1):57-70. doi: 10.4081/gh.2014.6.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using global positioning system (GPS) methods to understand the spatial context of obesity and hypertension risk among a sample of low-income housing residents in New York City (n = 120). GPS feasibility among participants was measured with a pre- and post-survey as well as adherence to a protocol which included returning the GPS device as well as objective data analysed from the GPS devices. We also conducted qualitative interviews with 21 of the participants. Most of the sample was overweight (26.7%) or obese (40.0%). Almost one-third (30.8%) was pre-hypertensive and 39.2% was hypertensive. Participants reported high ratings of GPS acceptability, ease of use and low levels of wear-related concerns in addition to few concerns related to safety, loss or appearance, which were maintained after the baseline GPS feasibility data collection. Results show that GPS feasibility increased over time. The overall GPS return rate was 95.6%. Out of the total of 114 participants with GPS, 112 (98.2%) delivered at least one hour of GPS data for one day and 84 (73.7%) delivered at least one hour on 7 or more days. The qualitative interviews indicated that overall, participants enjoyed wearing the GPS devices, that they were easy to use and charge and that they generally forgot about the GPS device when wearing it daily. Findings demonstrate that GPS devices may be used in spatial epidemiology research in low-income and potentially other key vulnerable populations to understand geospatial determinants of obesity, hypertension and other diseases that these populations disproportionately experience.
本研究的目的是评估使用全球定位系统（GPS）方法来了解纽约市低收入住房居民样本（n = 120）中肥胖和高血压风险的空间背景的可行性。通过调查前后以及对一项协议的遵守情况来衡量参与者中GPS的可行性，该协议包括归还GPS设备以及对从GPS设备分析的客观数据。我们还对21名参与者进行了定性访谈。大部分样本超重（26.7%）或肥胖（40.0%）。近三分之一（30.8%）处于高血压前期，39.2%患有高血压。参与者对GPS的可接受性、易用性评价很高，与佩戴相关的担忧程度较低，此外对安全、丢失或外观方面的担忧也很少，这些在基线GPS可行性数据收集后仍保持不变。结果表明，GPS的可行性随时间增加。GPS的总体归还率为95.6%。在114名配备GPS的参与者中，112名（98.2%）有一天提供了至少一小时的GPS数据，84名（73.7%）在7天或更多天提供了至少一小时的数据。定性访谈表明，总体而言，参与者喜欢佩戴GPS设备，它们易于使用和充电，如果每天佩戴的话，他们通常会忘记GPS设备的存在。研究结果表明，GPS设备可用于低收入以及可能的其他主要弱势群体的空间流行病学研究，以了解肥胖、高血压和这些人群中不成比例地出现的其他疾病的地理空间决定因素。
