Developing the Intergenerational Community Survey for older adults: Assessing neighborhood environments, social and physical activities, and health

Abstract

Many survey instruments have been developed to assess neighborhood environments for their impacts on people's health and daily activities. However, no instruments are available for capturing social interactions with different age groups among older populations. This study introduces a four-phase process of developing a comprehensive Intergenerational Community Survey (ICS) covering six domains: (1) physical activities, walking, and sedentary activities; (2) mental health and quality of life; (3) social activities (e.g. intergenerational and peer interactions) in and outside the neighborhood; (4) neighborhood environments (e.g. safety, streets and sidewalks); (5) supportive services or programs (e.g. intergenerational programs, transportation services); and (6) personal characteristics. Test-retest reliability assessments among 38 community-dwelling older adults (aged 65+) showed fair to good reliability results. ICS can serve as a useful tool to facilitate future research on intergenerational communities and interactions for older adults.

Keywords: Intergenerational community; Intergenerational interaction; Older adult; Reliability; Survey instrument.