Accessing Faith-Based Organizations Using Public Transportation: A Qualitative and GIS Study

Abstract

Nondriving aging adults are at risk of experiencing mobility barriers that inhibit access to important community resources for managing health and wellbeing. This multimethod study explores bus transportation experiences of older adults who live in extended stay hotels and use faith-based organizations to access resources. Interviews from 17 nondriving older adults were analyzed for perspectives about using faith-based organizations and residents' experiences navigating to faith-based organizations through available bus transportation in their communities. Residents described both favorable and unfavorable experiences when reaching out for help from faith-based organizations. Although they report reliance on faith-based organizations for a variety of resources, residents were challenged by an ineffective bus system that interfered with resource accessibility. Suggestions for improving bus transit systems and providing alternative, aging-friendly transportation options are discussed.

Navigating Aged Care Services with GIS: Trends, Developments, and Future Directions

“… Outputs of GIS modelling must be weighed against other needs and considerations in the implementation phase. Terri Lewinson 2016 [ 33 ] America 17 nondriving older adults Mixed methods: interview, data analysis Data, mapping, buffering Using GIS technology to display and analyze community-level data. Public transportation routes were obtained from a County GIS Data Browser.…”

“…Specific subpopulations were the focus of some studies: 3 articles investigated older adults with dementia [ 14 , 16 , 47 ]; 4 articles centered on vulnerable elderly individuals [ 28 , 32 , 38 , 59 ]. The subjects of the remaining 9 studies included older adults with disabilities [ 48 ], those unable to drive [ 33 ], individuals with chronic diseases [ 43 ], high-risk seniors [ 45 ], elderly prone to falls [ 57 ], those affected by COVID-19 [ 66 ], low-income older adults [ 69 ], and those in need of public transportation services [ 68 ].…”

“…Among the 61 articles reviewed, the needs of older adults were categorized into medical care, basic living, transportation, and spiritual needs. A total of 37 articles focused on medical care [ 3 , 15 , 16 , 20 , 21 , 23 , 24 , 28 , 29 , 31 , 32 , 36 , 37 , 39 – 41 , 43 , 45 – 50 , 50 , 51 , 53 , 54 , 56 , 57 , 60 , 63 – 68 , 72 ], 14 articles addressed basic living needs [ 14 , 18 , 26 , 27 , 30 , 35 , 38 , 44 , 52 , 55 , 58 , 61 , 62 , 69 ], 8 articles discussed transportation needs [ 19 , 22 , 25 , 34 , 42 , 70 , 71 , 73 ], and 2 articles explored spiritual needs [ 17 , 33 ].…”

“…Transportation needs involved daily activities [ 19 , 34 ] and walking [ 22 , 42 ]. Spiritual needs comprised recreational facilities [ 17 ] and religious beliefs [ 33 ].…”

A Policy Framework for Producing Age-Friendly Communities from the Perspective of Production of Space

“…For bottom-up age-friendly community using , another influential model, named constructive ageing model, shows six developmental psychological benefits brought by age-friendly communities [ 55 , 56 ]. In addition to psychological wellbeing, studies showed that older residents could also receive better life satisfaction, health, mobility, and participation in age-friendly communities [ 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 ].…”