Examining the impact of spatial accessibility to rehabilitation facilities on the degree of disability: A heterogeneity perspective

Ning Qiu; Tianjie Zhang; Jianquan Cheng

doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101489

Examining the impact of spatial accessibility to rehabilitation facilities on the degree of disability: A heterogeneity perspective

SSM Popul Health. 2023 Aug 9:23:101489. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101489. eCollection 2023 Sep.

Authors

Ning Qiu¹, Tianjie Zhang², Jianquan Cheng³

Affiliations

¹ School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shandong Jianzhu University, China.
² School of Architecture, Tianjin University, China.
³ Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.

Abstract

The positive effect of healthcare facilities on residents' health has been extensively studied. However, few studies have focused on the role of rehabilitation services as unique healthcare services for persons with disabilities. This study aimed to examine the relationship between the spatial accessibility of rehabilitation facilities and the degree of disability. To this end, an approach of measuring the spatial accessibility of rehabilitation facilities to persons with disabilities was proposed. This approach integrates multiple key elements including the characteristics of facilities (i.e., the capacity, frequency of use and service radius), characteristics of the mobility of persons with disabilities (i.e., the mode of travel, escort support, transportation fee and barrier-free environment requirements) and travel time obtained from a routing application programme interface. The accessibility of rehabilitation facilities was calculated at the neighbourhood level within the Central Urban Area of Tianjin Municipality. The ordinal logistic regression analysis revealed that higher accessibility to rehabilitation facilities generally corresponded to lower severity of disability. However, the impact varied depending on the type of disability. Increased accessibility was associated with greater severity of intellectual disability, whereas it was linked to reduced severity of visual, hearing, limb, mental and speech disabilities. It is suggested to incorporate disability diversity and the accessibility of rehabilitation facilities into spatial planning and governance.

Keywords: Application programming interface; Barrier-free facilities; Degree of disability; Diversity of disability; Monetization of travel costs; Spatial accessibility of rehabilitation facilities.