scholarly journals Factors That Influence Older Canadians’ Preferences for using Autonomous Vehicle Technology: A Structural Equation Analysis

Author(s):  
Hany M. Hassan ◽  
Mark R. Ferguson ◽  
Saiedeh Razavi ◽  
Brenda Vrkljan

Accessible and safe mobility is critical for those aged 65 years and older to maintain their health, quality of life, and well-being. Being able to move beyond one’s home and participate in activities in older adulthood requires consideration of both transportation needs and preferences. This paper aims to address a gap in evidence with respect to understanding factors that can affect older adults’ perceptions and willingness to use autonomous vehicles. In addition, it examines how these factors compare with those of younger adults to better understand the potential implications of this technology on mobility and quality of life. Using responses of those aged 65+ to a national survey of Canadians, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to identify and quantify factors significantly associated with older adults’ willingness to use autonomous vehicles. The SEM results suggest that factors such as using other modes of transit (e.g., sharing rides as passenger, bicycle, public transit, commuter rail, ride and car sharing) as well as distance traveled by automobile, income, gender (being male), and living in urban areas, were all positively associated with older adults’ perceptions of using autonomous driving features. The findings also suggest that older Canadians are more concerned about autonomous vehicles than younger Canadians. This study provides valuable insights into factors that can affect the preferences of Canadians when it comes to autonomous technology in their automobiles. Such results can inform the way in which transportation systems are designed to ensure the needs of users are considered across both age and ability.

Author(s):  
Fan Zhang ◽  
Dezhi Li

Due to the poor functioning in daily living activities, community-dwelling older adults spend more time in their neighborhood environment. The perceived neighborhood environment is crucial to their quality of life (QoL). To explore the complex influences of perceived neighborhood environment on QoL, a questionnaire was designed to measure their perception of each factor of neighborhood environment and each domain of QoL. Based on collected data, the reliability test was applied to revise the questionnaire. Multiple linear regression (MLR) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were adopted to hypothesize and test the integrated model for community-dwelling older adults. The results show that community-dwelling older adults’ perceptions of neighbor support, facilities related to physical exercise and recreation, and accessibility to facilities impact their overall QoL with diverse coefficients of 0.437, 0.312, and 0.295, respectively; neighbor support (0.207) on physical health; sidewalk condition (0.134), natural environment (0.260), and facilities related to daily life (0.165) on psychological health; and neighbor support (0.298), facilities related to daily life (0.206), and design-related safety (0.225) on social relationship. This revealed that perceptions of neighborhood environment have diverse impacts on their QoL. This study can provide targeted retrofit strategies for communities to enhance QoL of community-dwelling older adults efficiently.


Author(s):  
Yi Liu ◽  
Jason Draper

Participants attending a festival(s) with children is a family activity that influences family relationships. This study examines the relationship between attending status (e.g., with or without children), event experience, subjective well-being, and family quality of life (FQOL). A total of 585 festival participants’ data analyzed by structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that participants attending with children have a higher level of subjective well-being and FQOL compared to those without children. Participants attending with children have a higher level of cognitive engagement and experience novelty in festivals compared to those without children. Event experience results in a significant positive relationship with subjective well-being. This study expands current event literature in terms of FQOL and provides a practical guideline to event organizers to better understand the significance of festivals.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. e0252205
Author(s):  
Mahalingam Vasantha ◽  
Malaisamy Muniyandi ◽  
Chinnaiyan Ponnuraja ◽  
Ramalingam Srinivasan ◽  
Perumal Venkatesan

Background The use of Bayesian Structural Equation Model (BSEM) to evaluate the impact of TB on self-reported health related quality of life (HRQoL) of TB patients has been not studied. Objective To identify the factors that contribute to the HRQoL of TB patients using BSEM. Methods This is a latent variable modeling with Bayesian approach using secondary data. HRQoL data collected after one year from newly diagnosed 436 TB patients who were registered and successfully completed treatment at Government health facilities in Tiruvallur district, south India under the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) were used for this analysis. In this study, the four independent latent variables such as physical well–being (PW = PW1-7), mental well-being (MW = MW1-7), social well-being (SW = SW1-4) and habits were considered. The BSEM was constructed using Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm for identifying the factors that contribute to the HRQoL of TB patients who completed treatment. Results Bayesian estimates were obtained using 46,300 observations after convergence and the standardized structural regression estimate of PW, MW, SW on HRQoL were 0.377 (p<0.001), 0.543 (p<0.001) and 0.208 (p<0.001) respectively. The latent variables PW, MW and SW were significantly associated with HRQoL of TB patients. The age was found to be significantly negatively associated with HRQoL of TB patients. Conclusions The current study demonstrated the application of BSEM in evaluating HRQoL. This methodology may be used to study precise estimates of HRQoL of TB patients in different time points.


Author(s):  
Madonna S. Palmes ◽  
Sheilla M. Trajera ◽  
Gregory S. Ching

Growing old is frequently linked with various challenges. Hence, it is important to understand how to age successfully. Drawing on the concept that an individual’s quality of life (QOL) is influenced by their demographics, coping strategies, resilience, and social participation, the current study reports on the findings of these variables among older adults in the Western Philippines. A total of 392 volunteer older adults were surveyed. Aside from the demographics such as age, gender, marital status, average monthly income, educational attainment, and health status, the data collected also included the 30-item coping strategies for the elderly, 14-item resilience scale, 12-item social participation scale, and 35-item older people’s QOL scale. Structural equation modeling was used to verify the parallel and serial mediating role of resilience and social participation within the relationship between coping strategies and QOL. Findings show that coping strategies alone are not enough to improve QOL. The only way to improve QOL is through resiliency, as well as the ability to participate in social activities. In essence, the QOL of older adults can be improved by encouraging them to have more social participation, and at the same time, understand how it takes to become resilient.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saripah Abdul Latif ◽  
Mohd Shukri Omar ◽  
Yeop Hussin Bidin ◽  
Zainudin Awang

Failure in managing solid waste could result in environmental deterioration, which affects the quality of life. Recycling is argued to be a better solution to the problem. Although consumers’ awareness is increasing, participations in recycling are still low. The objective is to examine the influence of situational factors on recycling behaviour. Using cluster sampling, 300 respondents from selected urban areas in Malaysia were identified as samples. Data is analysed using structural equation modeling. Situational factors are non- significant predictors of recycling behaviour, but are significant predictors of intention to recycle. The findings have significant policy implications in ensuring the quality of life of societies. Keywords: Quality of Life; Solid Waste Management; Intention to Recycle; Recycling Behaviour; Situational Factors   eISSN 2514-7528 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. e0246887
Author(s):  
Sangmi Park ◽  
Hae Jong Lee ◽  
Byoung-Jin Jeon ◽  
Eun-Young Yoo ◽  
Jong-Bae Kim ◽  
...  

Occupational balance is an important variable associated with health and quality of life. This study aimed to investigate the influence of occupational balance on health, quality of life, and other health-related variables using structural equation modeling. We analyzed data from 208 adults over 55 years old. Mean age of the participants was 70.21 years (SD 7.22). The research model for analysis was based on the results of previous studies addressing occupational balance and related variables such as stress, leisure satisfaction, life satisfaction, subjective health, quality of life, and participation. General fit indices of the final model were acceptable (x2/df = 1.708, p < .001, RMSEA = .058, TLI = .923, CFI = .929, and SRMR = .067). Although the size of effect was small to medium (.157–.249), occupational balance was identified as an independent variable directly or indirectly affecting subjective health, quality of life, and health-related variables in the final model. Our results showed that it is possible to improve subjective health and quality of life by promoting better occupational balance. Further studies developing an intervention program based on occupational balance are required to confirm the feasibility of the intervention and its effect on older adults’ health and quality of life in real-life circumstances.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-91
Author(s):  
Sina Hamed ◽  
Mostafa Amini-Rarani ◽  
Mehdi Nosratabadi

Objective: As Iran has started to experience population ageing, it is important to consider the elderly needs and health. The purpose of this study was to examine the structural relationships between social support, quality of life and social health in Iranian older adults. Method: The research was a survey-based cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 800 non-institutionalized older adults living in Lorestan province in Iran in 2018. Three questionnaires were employed to collect data including social health, social support and quality of life. Data were analyzed by SPSS 22 and Amos 8 softwares. Results: The majority of the participants were men (51%) and 62% of the participants were married. The most of older adults had moderate or poor economic status. Having insurance and higher income significantly correlated with higher quality of life and social health (p<0.05). The direct effect of all three variables including social support on social health, and social support on quality of life and social health on quality of life were significant. The final model indicated that 39% of the overall variance of quality of life was attributed to social support and social health. Conclusion:  Findings confirm the importance of social networks and services in the life of older adults. Indeed, to improve quality of life and social health, it is needed to pay much more attention to all aspects of social support.


2019 ◽  
pp. 208-216

Objectives: To elucidate the importance of mutual effects within dyads by examining the contribution of depression on quality of life (QOL) in patients with advanced cancer and their family caregivers (FCs). Sample & Setting: 716 patients with advanced cancer paired with their FCs at two large, private not-for-profit hospices. Methods & Variables: A descriptive, cross-sectional design with the baseline data of a randomized hospice clinical trial was used. Structural equation modeling helped examine four hypotheses by integrating the features of the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model. Variables included QOL and depression. Results: Depression in patients with cancer and their FCs exhibited significant actor effects on an individual’s QOL after controlling for the partner effects. Among the spousal pairs, depression in FCs exhibited a positive partner effect on the functional well-being of patients with cancer, indicating that depressive symptoms occurring in FCs may increase patients’ functional well-being. Implications for Nursing: This study suggests the importance of consistent assessment in emotional well-being for dyads with cancer because their concerns may be transmitted to each other.


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