Exploring Sustainable Transportation Attitudes and Stages of Change Using Survey and Geospatial Data in New England Campus Commuters

Abstract

This paper presents findings of a two-campus project designed to assess alternative/sustainable transportation (AT), which is defined as commuting via non-SOVs (single occupancy vehicles) such as transit, carpooling, walking, or biking. One of the objectives was to test the application of a well-known behavior change model, the Transtheoretical Model of Change (TTM), to transportation behaviors. Additionally, geospatial analysis and visualization were applied using the TTM measures. The survey results show that commuting distances, transit connectivity, and status (i.e., students, staff, and faculty) affected commute modes and stages of readiness to use AT. Another important finding was that the survey data for AT replicated TTM relationship predictions between constructs and stages of change.

Sustainable Transportation Attitudes and Health Behavior Change: Evaluation of a Brief Stage-Targeted Video Intervention

“…This program of research for smoking cessation and other health behaviors provides direction and promise for TTM research applied to sustainable transportation [ 31 ]. In order to compare instruments and interventions to promote change in transportation behavior, TTM was used to compare transportation choices and behaviors at two New England state universities with different transportation infrastructure and travel patterns [ 32 ].…”

“…One central construct of the TTM is the stage of change. Longitudinal studies have found that people move through a series of five stages when modifying behavior on their own or with the help of formal interventions [ 20 , 31 , 32 ]. In precontemplation (PC), individuals may deny a problem and/or be resistant to change; they may be unaware of the negative consequences of their behavior, or may have given up on change because they are demoralized.…”

“…The TTM improves the likelihood of behavior changes by tailoring or targeting interventions to each individual’s stage of change. The TTM also includes constructs, decisional balance and self-efficacy that have demonstrated systematic relationships to the stages of change [ 22 , 31 , 32 ]. Decisional balance assesses individuals’ evaluations of the benefits and costs of changing, and/or the cost savings of adopting a new behavior.…”

“…Decisional balance assesses individuals’ evaluations of the benefits and costs of changing, and/or the cost savings of adopting a new behavior. These TTM constructs have been validated in the area of sustainable transportation [ 31 , 32 , 33 ]. Meta-analyses across many randomized trials, including a range of different health behaviors, have found that TTM tailored interventions were more effective than non-tailored interventions [ 23 , 24 , 31 , 32 ].…”

“…The assessment of ST behaviors provided empirical support for developing transportation interventions to promote ST, both within and beyond the campus setting. An important finding from the measurement development study was that the TTM model applied to ST, just as it had been successfully applied to numerous health and other behaviors [ 31 , 32 ]. Also, and importantly, patterns of cross-sectional relationships between pros and cons, efficacy, and stages of change for ST were comparable to the patterns that were found for other health behaviors [ 31 , 32 ].…”