Mobility Aspects Of Older People In Europe:
Main Findings Of The European Project “Mobilate”
Fiorella Marcellini[1]*, Andrea Principi*, Sabina Ciarrocchi*, Heidrun Mollenkopf**, Mart Tacken***, Isto Ruoppila****, Zsuzsa Szeman*****
*INRCA (Italian National Institute on Ageing), Social Gerontology Unit, Ancona (Italy), **DZFA, Heidelberg (Germany), ***University of Technology, Delft (The Netherlands), ****University of Jyvaskyla (Finland), *****Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest (Hungary)
Mobility is an important condition for a good quality life of elderly people. Outdoor mobility is in fact a necessary prerequisite for an independent way of life, including the capacity to go out, to cope with present traffic conditions, to carry out social and leisure activities (meeting people, walking, etc.). But as people age they become more vulnerable to the environment. In fact there is a complex relationship between elderly people and the environment which should be studied in a deeper way (Lawton, M. P., 1986). The progressive deterioration of physical and psychological abilities diminishes the capacity to perform daily life activities (Verbrugge, L. M., Jette, A. M.,1994). On the other hand obstacles and architectural barriers in the environment play an important role on the degree of outdoor mobility necessary to enjoy the facilities and opportunities available in the residential area (Mollenkopf, H., et al., 2001).
This paper provides an overview of recent research on outdoor mobility in old age from the project MOBILATE (Figure 1), carried out in five European Countries: Germany (coordinator, Department for Social and Environmental Gerontology at the German Centre for Research on Ageing - DZFA, represented by Dr. Heidrun Mollenkopf), Italy (Italian National Research Institute on Aging, Social Gerontology Unit – INRCA, represented by Dott. ssa Fiorella Marcellini), Finland (University of Jyväskylä, Department of Psychology, represented by professor Isto Ruoppila), The Netherlands (Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Architecture, represented by Dr. Mart Tacken) and Hungary (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Sociology, represented by Dr. Szuzsa Széman). The project that is being sponsored by the Fifth Framework Programme for RDT of the European Commission (Project N° QLRT-1999-02236), aims to study the problems of mobility and highlight differences and similarities between urban and rural areas.
Figure 1. The MOBILATE European Project
Besides, due to the results from another European study conducted in 1995 (“Keeping the Elderly Mobile”) which involved 3 European countries, Germany, Italy and Finland, it was possible to try out other types of investigation, such as longitudinal studies (Follow-up): in the 3 countries in question, the same elderly people studied in 1995 were again studied in 2000. It was thus possible to evaluate their mobility conditions after a period of 5 years. Another research was carried out on age cohorts in order to study the behaviour of elderly people of the same age in two different periods of life (1995 and 2000).
The MOBILATE Project 2000, is an international study of how men and women in later adulthood manage their daily commutes, what mobility means to them, and which conditions they feel promote or hinder their ability to get around. Patterns of mobility and activity are examined among about 300 men and 300 women in middle and late adulthood (55-74 years of age, and 75+) from six urban and rural regions, representing five European countries (eastern and western Germany, Finland, Italy, Hungary, and The Netherlands). The sample of altogether 3950 respondents (Table 1) is stratified according to gender and age. Out of the whole sample, 2.175 elderly people are between 55 and 74 years of age, and 1.775 over 75.
Table 1. The MOBILATE sample (survey 2000)
FIN / D (EAST) / D (WEST) / HUN / ITA / NL / ALLURBAN / 309 / 389 / 368 / 305 / 300 / 302 / 1973
RURAL / 301 / 379 / 383 / 300 / 300 / 314 / 1977
TOTAL
/ 610 / 768 / 751 / 605 / 600 / 616 / 3950Standardised questionnaires and a mobility diary are used to assess various forms of mobility (e.g., walking, using private or public modes of transportation) and essential features of the community (e.g., access to shops, services). Demographic aspects, personality measurements (e.g., religious beliefs, subjective well being, positive/negative mood) and sensory ability or disability (e.g., visual acuity, physical mobility) are assessed as well. In particular, the questionnaire covers the following main topics: mobility and transportation behaviour, mobility and use of services, housing conditions, mobility and social relationships, mobility leisure activities and sport, mobility and health and statistics. In addition, trip data was gathered in a diary. During the interview our subjects were asked to fill in a trip diary relative to the journeys carried out the day before the interview. The trip diary than had to be filled in for the day following the interview. The diary gives important information on trip-making behaviour: frequency, duration, distance, mode, and other conditions.
The goal of the research is to describe and explain mobility behaviour among older men and women, paying special attention to cultural, geographic, and structural differences in various European regions. A further goal is to communicate the results to political and company leaders in order to promote action regarding social policy, traffic coordination, city and regional planning, and industrial or commercial pursuits.
In order to have a good quality of life, elderly people must have good mobility, which means being more independent. This means also that the quailty of life of the elderly person is linked to many factors, included the personal interaction with the environment where the mobility take place. In this contest, the availability of services is very important to evaluate the quality of life of the elderly people. In our study availability means the possibility of reaching fundamental services (food store, pharmacy, doctor, bank, post office, bus or tram stop, church, cemetery, hairdresser/barber, library, more green areas only for the urban areas) by whatever means of transport, within a time range of 15 minutes, both in urban and in rural areas. The two most available services in alla countries, both in urban and in rural areas, is bus or tram stop, an important mean of transport for elderly people, but not used too much. One of the main aspects studied in this research regards in fact the means of transport most commonly used by the elderly in the various countries. For example, the interviewees were asked what means they used to reach the fundamental services taking previously in consideration (food store, pharmacy, doctor, bank, post office, bus or tram stop, church, cemetery, hairdresser or barber, library). Transport modalities included: by foot, bicycle, as car driver, as car passenger, by moped or bike, bus or tram, taxi, wheelchair. In order to analyse the possible difficulties they could meet, we studied their mobility needs.
Most elderly in all countries reach the important services mainly on foot, both in urban and rural areas. In urban areas, the elderly Hungarians mainly reach services on foot. This happens with very high percentages for the food store, pharmacy, doctor, bank, post office, hairdresser/barber and library. The highest percentages in all countries regard the bus or tram services, sport and green areas, with lower values for western Germany in both cases. The Dutch, compared to other countries, mainly go on foot to the church and cemetery. A low percentage of Italians goes to the cemetery on foot.
Findings also highlight the low use of public transportation. Why do elderly people not use public transport? Main reasons are “I don’t need it because I have a car” and “I don’t need it, because everything is within reach”. Most often they mention that they have no need of public transport, because they have a car. Only Hungary has a lower score here, but the elderly Hungarians mention more often that all they need is within reach. It is therefore interesting to see if older people have problems in using the public transport. Regarding the low use of public transport, a high percentage of the older elderly gives the reason: “I have difficulty getting in and out of the bus because of the high steps (40,9% of the 75+ year old) and “the buses start too quickly and jerkily so that one is thrown about” (37,8%).
As already seen, elderly people mention that they have no need of public transport because they have a car. Regarding the car, Italian elderly used it more than the others, so in this country the car is fundamental. Italy shows highest percentages for nearly all the fundamental services: food store, pharmacy, doctor, bank, post office, cemetery (above all), hairdresser/barber. Not many elderly people go by car to green areas, bus or tram stop, church and library. The graph shows the very low use of the car in Hungary.
Mobility of elderly people is also linked at the traffic situation. At this purpose, the most serious problem for all the interviewees is: “many cars and motorcycles go too fast when they approach pedestrian crossings, and so I never know whether they will brake or not” (79,4%). The second problem is “cars and motorcycles drive so fast that I can only see them at the last moment” (71,2%). Then, they think that “children and adolescents should be forbidden to ride their bicycles on the sidewalk” (69,5%), and finally “many cars and motorcycles drive too close to the sidewalk” (65,5%). This result shows that most elderly people feel that the behaviour of other people is dangerous. Traffic accidents are a serious obstacle to the mobility of elderly people. For this reason we asked the interviewees if they had been involved in at least one accident in the past few years.
Quite a few elderly people (9%) had indeed been involved. Among them, the most affected by this phenomenon were the Fins and the Italians. Most of the elderly people were involved as car drivers in Germany (65%), and in Italy (62%). In Hungary instead, they were involved mainly as pedestrians (57%). It is important to emphasize that 42% of the elderly people involved in accidents mentioned having consequences for their health, and 16% feeling more insecure than before. Feeling secure in one’s environment is a prerequisite for going out and being mobile. We therefore asked the elderly interviewees whether or not they felt secure.
Although elderly people seem to feel secure enough in all counties (and especially in Finland), distinguishing between the younger and older groups, we found that the level of insecurity increases for the older elderly in each country, so the percentage of insecure elderly people in each country is always higher for the older interviewees (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Feeling of security of elderly people by country (age: 75 and over) – (%)
N= 1758
In conclusion, the transport mode most commonly used in all countries is by foot. The car is fundamental in Italy. In the rural areas, going on foot is most common in The Netherlands and West Germany, while use of the car is very important in Italy, Finland and west Germany. The bicycle is used most in Hungary, followed by East Germany, Finland and The Netherlands.
Age and gender are rather determinant in driving more or less. With older age people and especially women drive less. It is of no surprise that health is often mentioned as reason. But financial reasons and increasing traffic play a more important role.
Public transport plays a moderate role compared with pedestrian trips or the car. Satisfaction with public transport is rather low, with even a negative score in Italy.
Elderly people come up against large number of obstacles where their mobility is concerned. The Mobilate study has identified factors connecting the environment and elderly people and the difficulties the latter meet. Seeing that the state of health and other psychological factors have a considerable affect on the mobility of the elderly person, the logical step from that would be to create an environment adapted to the needs of the elderly. This way interaction between the elderly person and the environment would lead to an improved quality of life for the whole older population. In this context, the objective of the Mobilate Project is to disseminate these results in each participant country, and to push policy and decision makers, designers, public transport providers, and car industries to find new solutions for improving mobility and quality of life of elderly people.
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[1] Address: INRCA (Italian National Institute on Ageing), Resp. Social Gerontology Unit, via S. Margherita 5, 60100 – Ancona (Italy). Phone 071-8004788. E-mail: