Associations between Environmental Characteristic and Cognitive Functioning for Older Adults

There is increasing interest in examining the life-space mobility and activity participation of older adults in the community using sensor technology. Objective data from these technologies may overcome the limitations of self-reported surveys, especially in older adults with age-associated cognitive impairment.

 This study aims to use secondary data including objective and self-reported life-space mobility for exploring the relationship between cognitive function and built environment characteristics (including planning & design parameters and configures). To get a further understanding of human behaviour and cognition, objective life-space mobility was triangulated with self-reported questionnaires and travel diaries. This secondary data is based on research finished by the Geriatric Education and Research Institute (GERI), which is supported by Singapore’s Ministry of National Development and National Research Foundation under the Land and Liveability National Innovation Challenge Funding Programme (grant number L2NICTDF1–2017 2). This original research study was also approved by the National Healthcare Group’s Domain Specific Review Board (NHG DSRB Ref.: 2017/00937). There are two objectives:

i) To compute the urban contextual variables based on selected sites by GIS technology:
   1) Green Plot Ratio;
   2) Residential Density;
   3) Street Connectivity;
   4) Land Use and
   5) Sky View Factor.

ii) To conduct pathway analysis among existing variables (like socio-demographics, physical health, psychological wellbeing, cognition, life-space mobility, activity participation, etc).