What Do We Know about the Use of the Walk-along Method to Identify the Perceived Neighborhood Environment Correlates of Walking Activity in Healthy Older Adults: Methodological Considerations Related to Data Collection—A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: The “walk-along interview” (WAI) is a qualitative spatial method that consists of a researcher walking alongside a participant during the time of an interview to identify perceived neighborhood environments. The use of the WAI method increased in various disciplines, including the fields of public health and gerontology, to assess the relationship between the individual, spaces, and walking activity. However, how and in what settings the WAI method has been implemented with healthy older adults needs to be documented and synthesized. Objective: Our aim is to conduct a systematic review of published studies that have used the WAI method to identify the perceived neighborhood environment correlates of walking activity in healthy older adults, with a specific focus on the methodological aspects related to the data collection of this method. Methods: Following the PRISMA guidelines, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and SocINDEX databases were systematically searched with no limitations on publication date. Results: From 99 articles identified, 31 met all inclusion criteria, totalizing 1207 participants. Description of the method through the assessment of participants and environmental characteristics and the data collection (before, during, and after WAI characteristics). Conclusion: This review provides detailed information WAI method to assess perceived neighborhood and walk activity among healthy older adults. WAI provides different sets of opportunities and challenges. Some suggestions, such as exhaustive participants’ socio-demographics, anthropometric descriptions and data collection methods, were highlighted to be essential elements when conducting WAIs. In addition, the current findings of this review could serve as a basis for researchers, students, and the professional community who wish to apply the WAI.

Systematic Review of the Use of the Walk-Along Interview Method to Assess Factors, Facilitators and Barriers Related to Perceived Neighborhood Environment and Walking Activity in Healthy Older Adults

“…A comprehensive search was performed in PubMed, SocINDEX, Web of Science and Scopus from inception to 4 July 2022 [22]. The search terms were combinations of Medical Subject Headings terms about (1) the population-older adults (e.g., aging, ageing, aged, older, elderly and senior)-and (2) the intervention-WAI (e.g., commented route, walkalong interview, go-along interview and walking interviews).…”

“…The search strategy included combinations of these keywords found in the abstract, title or keywords of the included articles. More details on the search strategy and methodology can be found in the first systematic review [22].…”

“…After removing duplicates (n = 65), 99 records were identified. After screening the titles and abstracts, 37 full texts were assessed for eligibility, of which 31 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in this systematic review, published between 2012 and 2022 [22].…”

“…The application of this method is intended to help to better understand how people perceive their environment, to obtain context-sensitive information [17] and to identify new topics that would not be generated by traditional interviews [19]. However, there is little published work on the use of the WAI method itself [12,15,19,22], so greater knowledge and understanding of how this method has been applied is crucial to improving its effective use.…”

“…The present work was designed to complement a recently published systematic review [22] that focused on data collection methods related to the use of WAI with healthy older adults. This paper now addresses the following question: what are the outcomes of the WAI method that identify correlates of the perceived neighborhood environment to walking activity in healthy older adults?…”