ASSESSING THE RURAL BUILT ENVIRONMENT TO SUPPORT OLDER ADULTS MOBILITY AND SOCIAL INTERACTION

The built environment plays an important role in supporting older adults to successfully age in place. The land-use patterns, transportation systems and community design elements that together comprise the built environment all directly affect how older adults move and interact within a community. Older adults who live in built environments with physical barriers are less likely to leave their homes and therefore are more at risk of social isolation, reduced physical activity, and increased mobility issues which can affect their ability to successfully age in place. To date, most of the research on the influence of the built environment has focussed primarily on urban settings with little understanding of the application to older adults in rural settings. Our presentation will focus on the adaptation of community audit instruments to assess the built environment in four rural communities with small populations in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada. We will present findings from a study where we used three methods to assess the rural built environment: community audits using the Healthy Aging Network (HAN) environmental audit tool, local policy assessments using the Rural Active Living Assessment (RALA) tool and focus groups with community dwelling older adults. We will discuss our methods of adapting these instruments for use in small rural communities, will highlight our use of mapping technology to summarize findings and discuss the contribution of these findings to local community governments who are formalizing their age-friendly initiatives.