Measuring Health-related Transportation Barriers in Urban Settings

J Appl Meas. 2017;18(2):178-193.

Abstract

Access to reliable transportation is important for people with chronic diseases considering the need for frequent medical visits and for medications from the pharmacy. Understanding of the extent to which transportation barriers, including lack of transportation, contribute to poor health outcomes has been hindered by a lack of consistency in measuring or operationally defining "transportation barriers." The current study uses the Rasch measurement model to examine the psychometric properties of a new measure designed to capture types of transportation and associated barriers within an urban context. Two hundred forty-four adults with type 2 diabetes were recruited from within an academic medical center in Chicago and completed the newly developed transportation questions as part of a larger National Institutes of Health funded study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01498159). Results suggested a two subscale structure that reflected 1) general transportation barriers and 2) public transportation barriers.

MeSH terms

  • Academic Medical Centers
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Architectural Accessibility*
  • Chicago
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / psychology*
  • Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / therapy*
  • Female
  • Health Services Accessibility / statistics & numerical data
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Models, Statistical
  • Psychometrics / statistics & numerical data
  • Surveys and Questionnaires*
  • Transportation Facilities / statistics & numerical data*
  • Transportation of Patients / statistics & numerical data*
  • Urban Population / statistics & numerical data*

Associated data

  • ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT01498159