The health equity characteristics of research exploring the unmet community mobility needs of older adults: a scoping review

Abstract

Background Unmet community mobility needs of older adults, published since the announcement of the UN sustainable development goals was synthesised to describe the health equity characteristics of research identifying unmet community mobility needs of older adults. Methods Searches were conducted in March and April 2020, 2275 articles were screened and 100 identified for data extraction. Results Findings showed underrepresentation of articles considering rural settings [9%] and originating in the global South [14%]. Gender, disability, education, and transport / driving were identified as key health equity characteristics and only 10 articles provided detail on all four of these. External factors inhibiting community mobility included built environments, service availability, and societal attitudes. Internal factors included finances, fear and apprehension, and functional limitations. Conclusions The need for standardised reporting of participant characteristics in the community mobility of older adults was highlighted. These characteristics are required by research consumers to judge equity dimensions, and the extent to which findings represent minority or marginalised groups. 15 after the UN pledge to reduce inequalities, peer reviewed primary research does not reflect a global drive to end discrimination, exclusion and reduce the inequalities and vulnerabilities that leave people behind.

Interventions to improve outdoor mobility among people living with disabilities: A systematic review

“…Because of the insufficiency of available data, further exploration of the impact of outdoor mobility interventions on health equity was not possible. This is in accordance with a previous scoping review exploring health equity characteristics in studies of unmet community mobility needs for older adults, which identified poor inclusion and reporting of characteristics to evaluate and follow-up aspects of health equity in the evidence base(Biljon, 2022).The very low reporting of any potential harms (e.g., falls, hospitalization and mortality) in the included studies limits the completeness and usage of the evidence in decision-making. Eventhough a few studies transparently addressed potential harms of the interventions and found no substantial difference between intervention and control group, it is still uncertain of this is an accurate representation of the harms that outdoor mobility interventions might lead to based on risk of bias and underpowered studies to detect any differences.…”

Out-of-home life spaces valued by urban older adults with limited income

“…Exploring older adults’ life space has value as it reflects their mobility and participation in society. A literature review (Van Biljon et al 2022 ) showed that published research on the unmet community mobility needs of older adults was predominantly from higher income countries. Identifying only one source from Africa, it concluded that peer-reviewed primary research on this subject does not reflect a global drive to end discrimination, exclusion and reduce the inequalities and vulnerabilities that leave people behind (Van Biljon et al 2022 ).…”

Correction: The health equity characteristics of research exploring the unmet community mobility needs of older adults: a scoping review

“…After publication of this article [ 1 ], the authors reported that in the abstract, paragraph Conclusions, the 3rd sentence should not start with “15”, but with “Fifteen years”.…”