Predictors of knowledge of community accessibility for people with mobility disabilities

As part of a 5-year NIH grant on Obesity and the Built Environment, the purposes of this study were to (a) assess level of knowledge on community accessibility among people with mobility disabilities, and (b) examine factors associated with a higher level of community accessibility knowledge. 84 individuals with mobility disabilities living in a large urban area were surveyed on knowledge of community accessibility regarding five domains: exercise, nutrition, transportation, sidewalks, and facility accessibility. The majority of subjects were female (59%), African American (77%), high school graduate (75%), not employed (87%), reported annual income less than $15,000 (80%) with a mean age of 52.1±14.7 (yr) and a mean BMI of 38.2±19.0 (kg/m2). The overall knowledge of community accessibility was low, 61.3 (out of 100), with the highest score on sidewalks (71.6) and exercise (70.4) followed by transportation (65.0), nutrition (56.1), and facility accessibility (43.4). Education, income, and race were all predictive of knowledge of community accessibility, with college graduate, higher income group (>$15,000), and White displaying higher knowledge scores on all five domains. Younger age was also significantly associated with higher knowledge on exercise (r=-.31, p=.005). Lower BMI (r=-.40, p=.002) and younger age (r=-.43, p<.001) were also predictive of higher knowledge on transportation. In a multivariate model, however, only education (p=.0023) was found to be a significant predictor of knowledge on community accessibility. The palpable lack of knowledge on community accessibility shows a critical need to focus more on education in interventions that seek to empower individuals with mobility disabilities.