• KIEAE Journal
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.69-75
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• 2012

Developing reliable measures of the environment is important to increase our understanding of the environmental effects on walking among seniors. As a preliminary study for developing an instrument for measuring walkability of seniors' environment, the purpose of this study are to identify important assessment indicators associated with seniors' walking and to test their reliability using inter-rater and intra-rater reliability methods. A set of assessment indicators was identified through literature review, and field studies by trained raters were conducted in three senior centers located in Seongnam area in order to test reliability of the audit tool. The results indicated high percent agreement for most indicators and overall 91.6% and 86.1% of items assessed had good or medium inter-rater and intra-rater reliability, respectively. The reliable assessment indicators would provide reliable data for use in community-based audits of built environment in relation to walking among older adults. The findings showed that the indicators of aesthetics had lower reliability compare to safety, convenience, and access. Rater training with various images would improve rater agreement while reduce rater bias.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.931-938
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• 2014

This study presents a systematic method of evaluation with the premise that satisfaction rating scale of the walking environment will vary according to the characteristics of land use by footpath types. Ultimately, it aims to contribute to the effective management and improvement of footpaths. The result of the study shows a statistically significant difference in the indicators and it's weights for walking environment on new town, old town, commercial areas, subway station, river and park by footpath types. After applying the walking environment assessment model to some of the footpaths in Suwon, it was found that actual level can be simulated successfully in reality. Therefore, the result of the study is expected to help determining the priorities for the walking environment improvement for the local government.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.45-52
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• 2023

Recently, as the importance of walking in daily life has been emphasized, projects to guarantee walking rights and create a pedestrian environment are being promoted throughout the region. In previous studies, a pedestrian environment assessment was conducted using Jeonju-si road images, and an image comparison pair data set was constructed. However, data sets expressed in numbers have difficulty in generalizing the judgment criteria of pedestrian environment assessors or visually identifying the pedestrian environment preferred by pedestrians. Therefore, this study proposes a method to interpret the results of the pedestrian environment assessment through data visualization by building a web application. According to the semantic segmentation result of analyzing the walking environment components that affect pedestrian environment assessors, it was confirmed that pedestrians did not prefer environments with a lot of "earth" and "grass," and preferred environments with "signboards" and "sidewalks." The proposed study is expected to identify and analyze the results randomly selected by participants in the future pedestrian environment evaluation, and believed that more improved accuracy can be obtained by pre-processing the data purification process.

• Korean System Dynamics Review
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.25-45
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to estimate the effects of healthy city policies on residents' walking. In order to estimate promotion of walking rates by healthy cities policies, it developed System dynamics(SD)-based model which showed causal relationships among urban design, public health policies, and walking levels. SD technique is useful for future forecast and policy impact assessment. The spatial units of the SD-based system for policy impact assessment included 66 cities, counties, and communities in Seoul Metropolitan Area. The system simulation was planned to be run for 21 years from 2009 to 2030. For this study, 3 alternatives were proposed with combinations of length of bike lanes, number of bus routes, crime rates, self-reported good health status rates, and obesity rates. As a result of simulations, residents' participation rates for walking were increased from 1.00% to 9.98%. This study contributes to better understanding the benefits of healthy cities that are associated with individual walking. It further provided useful insights into planners' role in promoting health. The paper concluded with a discussion on future research opportunities and implications for public policies in urban and transportation and public health.

• Journal of the Architectural Institute of Korea Planning & Design
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.71-81
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to develop neighborhood assessment tools from the perspective of women in order to evaluate neighborhood environments and suggest better policies and planning practices for women-friendly neighborhood environments. To do so, we analyze correlations between women's quality of life and the neighborhood environment. Specifically, we gave female participants a mapping survey, interview, and questionnaire to collect data targeting women living in Onyang 2-dong and 5-dong in Asan city. First, we developed a neighborhood assessment tool derived from an extensive literature review and particular case studies. The mapping and interview surveys indicated that specific aspects neighborhood life needed to be improved in a similar area. In particular, women complained about Onyangoncheon station, a commercial area, and detached house area. Second, analysis of the neighborhood environmental factors affecting women's neighborhood satisfaction, crime safety, traffic and walking environment, accessibility of living facilities, green and public spaces and childcare environment were statistically significant. Of these, the inclusion of green and public spaces was the most influential factor. Third, the neighborhood environmental factors affecting women's neighborhood attachment, crime safety, traffic and walking environment, accessibility of living facilities, green and public spaces and childcare environment were statistically significant. Of these, accessibility of living facilities appeared to be the most influential factor. Fourth, the neighborhood environmental factors affecting women's housing mobility decisions, crime safety, traffic and walking environment, accessibility of living facilities, green and public spaces and childcare environment were statistically significant. Of these, childcare environment was the most influential factor.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.25-31
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• 2015

PURPOSE: Previous studies have shown that healthy young adults reduced gait velocity during texting or talking while walking. It was reported that increasing number of pedestrian accidents were related to distract the environmental attention. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of texting and texting while listening to music on gait parameters. METHODS: Texting and listening to music while walking were assessed in two dual-task condition using 35 healthy young adults. The outcome measurements were assessed in terms of spatiotemporal gait parameters in three walking conditions, namely, comfortable walking speed, walking while texting, and walking while texting and listening to music. To avoid learning effect, subjects were individually blinded to assessment schedule and space. The changes between the three walking conditions were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA. RESULTS: When comparing the two dual-task conditions with the single-task condition, it was found that dual-task interference was increased in almost gait velocity, cadence, stride length, step time, double limb support, and single limb support. In addition, walking while texting and listening to music condition negatively was affected gait speed, stride length, and step time more than the texting only condition. CONCLUSION: Walking while texting and listening to music as well as waling while texting may decrease pedestrian safety when crossing streets by diverting the person's attention away from the street environment.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.356-366
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• 2021

Objective: This study aimed to compare gait ability through gait evaluations in indoor and outdoor environments according to the general characteristics and walking ability of stroke patients. Design: Crossed-sectional study. Methods: The subjects of this study were 57 hospitalized stroke patients.The study subjects were asked to select an indoor environment and an outdoor environment in random order, and the Timed Up and Go Test (TUG), 10-Meter Walk Test (10MWT), Figure-Eight Walk Test (F8WT) and the Functional Gait Assessment (FGA) were used to assess each environment. Results: The TUG, 10MWT, F8WT time and number of steps, and FGA showed a significant decrease in gait ability in the outdoor environment compared to the indoor environment (p<0.05). Although the TUG, 10MWT, and the time required for the F8WT were statistically higher in the outdoor compared to the indoor environment at points 2, 3, and 4, but not 5 of the functional ambulatory category (FAC), significant increases in the number of steps of the F8WT were found in the outdoor compared to the indoor environment for only points 2 and 3 of the FAC (p<0.05). In the FAC 3 and 4, there was a statistically significant decrease in the outdoor compared to the indoor environment only in the FGA (p<0.05). Conclusions: Therefore, it has been shown that the gait ability of stroke patients is reduced in the outdoor environment compared to the gait ability in the indoor environment.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.55-75
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to present the basic data for restoration of physical stream environment by analyzing habitat variables because habitat environment is changed due to the construction of waterfront space in urban streams. Assessment results of 10 habitat variables(three divisions) were almost same as optimal condition, in the reach of reference stream where there are no stream crossing structures and channel alteration. Assessment results of reaches in urban rivers, where streams were improved on water-friendly recreation activities, appeared to be marginal condition. Because habitat environment got worse due to stream improvement works such as construction of weir for water landscape, stepping stones for walking, low water revetment and high water revetment, and high water channel. In addition, in the case of mid gradient stream, the frequency of riffles was small or not existed because the intervals of the river crossing structures was short. In the case of mild stream types, the diversity of the pool was damaged due to the deposition of sludge in the upstream pool of weir and the installation of low water revetment.

• Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.77-85
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• 2014

Objective: In the present study, the effects of progressive body weight support treadmill forward & backward walking training (FBWT), progressive body weight support treadmill forward walking training (FWT), and progressive body weight support treadmill backward walking training (BWT), and on stroke patients' ambulatory abilities were examined. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Methods: A total of 36 chronic stroke patients were divided into three groups with 12 subjects in each group. Each of the groups performed one of the progressive body weight supported treadmill training methods for 30 minute, six times per week for three weeks, and then received general physical therapy without any other intervention until the follow-up tests. For the assessment of the step length, total double support, cadence, gait were measured using optogait and the 10-m walk test (10MWT), 6 minutes walk test (6MWT). Results: In the within group comparisons, all the three groups showed significant differences between before and after the intervention (p<0.05). In the comparison of the three groups, there were significant differences among the three groups in stride length, double limb support stance, cadence, 10MWT, and 6MWT in the third week, and only in stride length, 10MWT, and 6MWT test in the sixth week (p<0.05). Conclusions: This study verified that progressive body weight-supported treadmill gait training positively affected the gait ability of stroke patients in an actual gait environment. It also showed that FBWT group was more effective than FWT group and BWT group training.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.45-54
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• 2014

Fall is one of the most intimidating health conditions in elders. Comprehensive assessment is necessary to understand the individual and environmental aspects of the falls such as balancing abilities, depression, and quality of life. The purpose of this study was to compare the balancing ability, depression, and quality of life between elderly fallers and elderly non-fallers. Thirty-two community-dwelling elders (fifteen males and seventeen females between 65 and 83 years old), who have experienced fall on walking during last twelve months, were involved in the elderly fallers group. And twenty-four males and twenty-two females between 65 and 83 years old of community-dwelling elders, who have no experienced fall on walking during last twelve months, were involved in the elderly non-fallers group. Berg balance scale (BBS), timed up and go test (TUG), and functional reach test (FRT), were used to evaluate the ability of the physical balance. 'Beck depression scale in Korean' questionnaire was used to assess the depression. 'Korean version of World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment Instrument-Bref' questionnaire was used to assess the quality of life. The results were as follows: 1) Balancing abilities measured by the BBS, TUG in the elderly fallers group were meaningfully lower than that of the elderly non-fallers group (p<.05), whereas no significant difference in the FRT was found (p>.05). 2) Depression level in the elderly fallers group was significantly higher than that of the elderly non-fallers group (p<.05). 3) Quality of life in the elderly fallers group was significantly lower than that of the elderly non-fallers group, excluding environment domain (p<.05). Therefore, in order for clinical evaluation of the community-dwelling elders those with reduced balancing ability, it is necessary to evaluate and understand the fall experience, depression, and quality of life.