Dept of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta, 2-50 Corbett Hall, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2G4, Canada.
School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
BMC Geriatr. 2023 Jul 18;23(1):439. doi: 10.1186/s12877-023-04127-2.
Although the positive influence of social activity on health is now well-established, a complex relationship exists among social participation, personal, social and the environment. Social participation of older adults was examined in rural and urban settings to identify features of the built-environment and perception of neighborhood specific to the locale.
Using cross-sectional data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), we examined social participation and health of older people (65 + yrs) in relation to the built environment and sociocultural contexts for urban and rural areas. A social participation index was derived from responses on the frequency of participating in 8 social activities over the past 12 months. Personal, household and neighborhood indicators were examined to develop multivariable regression models for social participation in urban and rural cohorts.
No meaningful differences were seen with the frequency of social participation between rural and urban settings; however, the type of community-related activities differed in that a greater proportion of urban participants reported sports and educational/cultural events than rural participants. Service club activities were greater for rural than urban participants. Different neighborhood features were statistically significant factors in explaining social participation in rural than in urban locales, although transportation was a significant factor regardless of locale. Trustworthiness, belonging and safety were perceived factors of the neighborhood associated with higher social participation for rural participants.
The relationship between home and health becomes stronger as one ages. Social and physical features of built environment specific to urban and rural settings need to be considered when implementing appropriate social activities for older people.
尽管社会活动对健康的积极影响现在已经得到充分证实，但社会参与、个人、社会和环境之间存在着复杂的关系。本研究在城乡环境中考察了老年人的社会参与情况，以确定特定场所的建筑环境和邻里感知特征。
本研究使用加拿大老龄化纵向研究（CLSA）的横断面数据，考察了老年人（65 岁及以上）的社会参与情况及其与城市和农村地区的建筑环境和社会文化背景的关系。社会参与指数是根据过去 12 个月中参与 8 项社会活动的频率得出的。研究人员还检查了个人、家庭和邻里指标，以制定城市和农村队列的多变量回归模型来预测社会参与情况。
城乡老年人的社会参与频率没有明显差异；然而，社区相关活动的类型有所不同，城市参与者报告体育和教育/文化活动的比例高于农村参与者。农村参与者参与服务俱乐部活动的比例高于城市参与者。不同的邻里特征是农村地区比城市地区解释社会参与的统计学上显著因素，尽管交通是无论地点如何都是一个重要因素。农村参与者认为邻里的可信赖性、归属感和安全感是与更高社会参与度相关的感知因素。
随着年龄的增长，家庭和健康之间的关系变得更加紧密。在为老年人实施适当的社会活动时，需要考虑城市和农村特定的建筑环境的社会和物理特征。
