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Task 4. Life space across older adults.

The aim of this task is to provide a reliable measurement of the actual life space of older adults in different urban contexts and across social subgroups. Life space has been frequently associated with social ties, physical environment and socio-economic status, and it is also a recognised factor associated with such positive health outcomes as reduced disability. However, variations in life space across subgroups of older adults have rarely been addressed, and there has been no such analysis in the Portuguese context.

The team will exploit the travel diaries designed and implemented in Task 2. For this study, more than 250 elders will have completed a travel diary during a five-day period of time, though the precise duration of the travel diaries may be modified during the project in order to better adapt the methodology. As indicated above, respondents will be selected from participants in the travel survey. The use of correspondence analysis will ensure a good level of representation across social groups and study areas (among the urban regions of Lisbon, Aveiro and Faro). Travel diaries are generally used to determine the spatial extent to which an individual routinely travels. 

Three sets of multivariate analyses will be undertaken, the first of which will assess differences in life space across older persons according to the modes of transportation to which they have access. Ceasing to drive motor vehicles represents a major turning point in elders’ lives and potentially reduces their life space and social interactions. Controlling for other relevant variables, comparisons will be made between those elders who use private cars and those who (almost) exclusively walk and/or use public transit, which will allow the researchers to assess whether walking provides a satisfactory response to the needs of elders experiencing transport issues. 

The second analysis will assess differences in life space across social groups, which may provide useful insights on the link between distributional issues (socially, age- or impairment-based) and life space across elders, since potential cumulative effects associating age, gender and social vulnerability may be factors identified as relating to shrinking life-space.
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Finally, correlations between reported trips (and any associated difficulties) will be made with individual, household, and urban structural variables in order to better identify the factors that most influence life space reduction in later life.

Fase 4. Espaço de vida das pessoas idosas.

A equipa irá analisar os diários de bordo implementados na Fase 2. Conforme indicado acima, os entrevistados serão selecionados entre os participantes do inquérito à mobilidade. Os diários de bordo são geralmente usados ​​para determinar a extensão espacial em que um indivíduo se desloca diariamente.

Serão realizados três conjuntos de análises multivariadas, a primeira das quais avaliará as diferenças no espaço de vida entre os idosos de acordo com os modos de transporte a que eles têm acesso. O fim da condução representa um importante ponto de viragem na vida dos mais velhos e reduz potencialmente o seu espaço de vida e as suas interacções sociais. 

A segunda análise avaliará as diferenças no espaço de vida entre os grupos sociais, o que pode fornecer informações úteis sobre a ligação entre questões redistributivas (socialmente, baseadas na idade ou com deficiências) e espaço de vida na população idosa, já que potenciais efeitos cumulativos que associam idade, género e vulnerabilidade podem contribuir para o encolhimento do espaço de vida.

Por fim, as correlações entre as deslocações registadas (e quaisquer dificuldades associadas) serão feitas com variáveis ​​estruturais individuais, domésticas e urbanas, para melhor identificar os factores que mais influenciam a redução do espaço de vida em idade avançada.