Harada K, Masumoto K, Okada S. Walking trail access, exercise behavior, and going out-of-home among older adults: Examining longitudinal associations and mediators.
Arch Gerontol Geriatr 2024;
126:105534. [PMID:
38905815 DOI:
10.1016/j.archger.2024.105534]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2024] [Revised: 05/19/2024] [Accepted: 06/10/2024] [Indexed: 06/23/2024]
Abstract
AIM
Although the presence of a walking trail within a neighborhood would be an important environmental determinant of health behaviors, such as exercise and going out-of-home, their longitudinal associations and mediators are still unconfirmed. This study examined the longitudinal associations of walking trail access with exercise behavior and going out-of-home and mediating roles of awareness and use of walking trails on their associations among older adults.
METHODS
A four-wave questionnaire-based longitudinal survey was conducted among Japanese older adults (Wave 1: baseline; Wave 2: after one year; Wave 3: after three years; and Wave 4: after five years). Each survey measured weekly exercise time and frequency of going out-of-home. Wave 4 survey also measured awareness and use of walking trails. This study calculated distance to nearest walking trail using geographic information systems. This study analyzed the data from all waves (n = 834) for longitudinal associations and the data from Wave 4 (n = 567) for mediated associations.
RESULTS
Latent growth modeling showed insignificant longitudinal associations of walking trail access with weekly exercise time and frequency of going out-of-home. The path analyses showed that a shorter distance to the walking trail was indirectly and significantly associated with longer weekly exercise time (standardized indirect effect=-0.03, p<.001) and a higher weekly frequency of going out-of-home (standardized indirect effect=-0.03, p<.001), mediated by awareness and use of walking trails.
CONCLUSIONS
These findings indicate that the influence of walking trail access on exercise behavior and going out-of-home would be attenuated by awareness and use of walking trails among older adults.
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