Changing neighborhoods and occupations: Experiences of older African-Americans in Detroit

Abstract

Neighborhood characteristics are relevant to understanding occupations and associated outcomes, yet few empirical studies have focused on neighborhood as the unit of analysis when examining person-environment-occupation relationships. The purpose of this report is to begin addressing that gap. We present findings from a qualitative investigation conducted as part of a larger mixed methods study of 100 African-Americans aged 55 and older living in a variety of neighborhood contexts. With a subsample of older adults (n = 20), we utilized participant-generated photos and photo-elicitation interviews to examine the question of how participation in everyday occupations changes (or not) for older African-Americans residing in urban neighborhoods that have undergone significant physical and socio-demographic changes. Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach in combination with a constant comparative method. Occupational change was conceptualized as four primary types: (a) spatio-temporal changes to participation in occupation, (b) changes to social participation, (c) heightened vigilance during daily occupations, and (d) actions to preserve and protect the neighborhood. The findings provide insights about the ways that neighborhood deterioration is related to occupational change. We discuss the potential impact of participants’ occupational changes on health and well-being, and we assess the issue of neighborhood and occupation as relevant to occupational justice in urban contexts.

Urban Living Environment and Mental Health of Older People: A Photovoice Study

“…Similar to the study of Ronzi et al (2016), photovoice brought to the surface older people's perceptions and knowledge about things that were important for them. As is also demonstrated by other studies (27,(61)(62)(63)(64)(65)(66)(67)(68)(69)(70), our participants enjoyed taking photos and being a part of the process of data collection. They found photovoice interesting and inspiring and felt that their photos and experiences were important.…”

Enacting agency: exploring how older adults shape their neighbourhoods

“…Thus, the study findings provide further insight into the transactional nature of person and place, and illustrate the prominent role that engaging in occupations, in this case acting upon the neighbourhood, plays within this transaction, adding to emerging research regarding person–place transactions in later life ( e.g. Fritz and Cutchin, 2017).…”

“…But now they've put in a government, a huge big government area for Service Canada, so we've lost all that area for stores as well … they took away the bookstore and the library and post office and services like that. Participant 13 BThe activities within this theme appear linked to protection of the neighbourhood, similar to Fritz and Cutchin (2017), who described how older adults defended an area with many vacant and run-down homes, through maintaining vacant properties to deter crime, and communicating with local government and media to raise awareness of and address issues. As participants in the current study enacted agency at the community level, they appeared to draw on a sense of environment-related belonging in an iterative process.…”

Community Resident Perceptions of and Experiences with Precarious Work at the Neighborhood Level: The Greater Lawndale Healthy Work Project

“…Our study addresses a gap in research on how residents perceive and experience work opportunities in their neighborhoods. With increasing recognition of the need for qualitative research for health equity, few recent studies have examined perceptions of specific occupations within a neighborhood [ 71 , 72 , 73 ] or work transitions (due to age or gentrification) [ 74 ], but there remains little research on how work is experienced within a neighborhood.…”