Research Unit for Active Living, Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense M, Denmark.
Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA.
Transl Behav Med. 2019 Jan 1;9(1):99-109. doi: 10.1093/tbm/iby009.
Daily mobility, defined as the ability to move oneself within one's neighborhood and regions beyond, is an important construct, which affects people as they age. Having a feasible and valid measure of daily mobility is essential to understand how it affects older adults' everyday life. Given the limitations of existing measures, new tools may be needed. The purpose of the study is to assess the feasibility and practicality of using the map-based questionnaire system VERITAS and GPS devices to measure daily mobility in older adults living in a deprived neighborhood in Denmark. Older adults were recruited from two senior housing areas, completed an interview using VERITAS and wore a GPS for 7 days. Feasibility of both methods was assessed by looking at practicalities, recruitment and compliance, and ability to measure daily mobility.Thirty-four older adults completed the VERITAS questionnaire, of which 23 wore the GPS device. Remembering to wear and charge the GPS was difficult for 48% participants, whereas remembering street names and drawing routes in VERITAS was difficult for two. Both the GPS and VERITAS were able to measure 10 out of the 13 identified components of mobility; however, VERITAS seemed more qualified at measuring daily mobility for this target population. The feasibility of assessing mobility may vary by specific context and study population being investigated. Wearable technology like a GPS may not be acceptable to low socioeconomic older adults, whereas interview led self-reported measurements like VERITAS might be more suitable for a low socioeconomic elderly population.
日常活动能力，即个体在其所处社区及周边地区移动的能力，是一个重要的指标，会对老年人的生活产生影响。拥有一种可行且有效的日常活动能力衡量方法，对于理解其如何影响老年人的日常生活至关重要。鉴于现有衡量方法的局限性，可能需要新的工具。本研究旨在评估使用基于地图的问卷系统 VERITAS 和 GPS 设备来衡量丹麦贫困社区中老年人日常活动能力的可行性和实用性。从两个老年人住宅区招募了老年人，他们使用 VERITAS 完成了访谈，并佩戴 GPS 设备 7 天。通过考察实用性、招募和合规性以及衡量日常活动能力的能力，评估了这两种方法的可行性。34 名老年人完成了 VERITAS 问卷，其中 23 人佩戴了 GPS 设备。对于 48%的参与者来说，记住佩戴和充电 GPS 是困难的，而对于两个人来说，记住街道名称和在 VERITAS 中绘制路线是困难的。GPS 和 VERITAS 都能够测量 13 个确定的流动性组成部分中的 10 个；然而，对于这一特定目标人群，VERITAS 似乎更适合衡量日常活动能力。评估流动性的可行性可能因特定的背景和研究人群而异。可穿戴技术（如 GPS）可能不被低社会经济地位的老年人所接受，而像 VERITAS 这样的基于访谈的自我报告测量方法可能更适合低社会经济地位的老年人群体。
