Using GIS to explore access to physical activity supporting spaces (A-PASS) for people with mobility limitations

People with disabilities are often spatially isolated and spend many hours in their home, limiting their daily physical activity. Higher levels of physical activity have been associated with greater access to local parks, fitness centers, transportation and grocery stores. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine this relationship among people with mobility limitations. The number of waking hours a day spent inside the home and the number of hours reported sitting and sleeping were used as a proxy for outdoor physical activity. The A-PASS access to physical activity supporting spaces index was created by combining two commonly used measures of access: a) actual street distances to facilities; and b) number of facilities that a person has access to based on specified distances. Parks, fitness centers, transportation and grocery stores were defined as spaces that support physical activity. Results showed that there was no statistically significant relationship between outdoor activity and having geographic access to physical activity supporting spaces (Spearman's rho = .01, p>.05). Additional indices may need to be added to the A-PASS index to capture the intricacies of community access for people with disabilities i.e. social support, personal assistance and diverse modes of travel. Future research should build off the A-PASS index to provide a more robust measurement of community access for people with mobility limitations that could be used to identify the relationship between community access and physical activity. (Funded by NIH Grant #R01HD052891)