Program Area: Behavioral and Social Sciences
Christina Röcke, PhD
Deputy Director and Head Research Group
URPP Dynamics of Healthy Aging & Center for Gerontology
University of Zurich, Dynamics of Healthy Aging & Center for Gerontology
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Minxia Luo, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
URPP Dynamics of Healthy Aging & Department of Psychology
University of Zurich
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Hans-Werner Wahl, PhD
Psychologie
Universität Heidelberg
Heidelberg, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
Minxia Luo, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
URPP Dynamics of Healthy Aging & Department of Psychology
University of Zurich
Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Chao-Yi Wu, PhD, OT
Senior Research Associate
Neurology
Oregon Health & Science University
Portland, Oregon, United States
Carl-Philipp Jansen, PhD
Post-Doctoral Research Associate
Department of Geriatric Rehabilitation
Robert-Bosch-Hospital Stuttgart
Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
Lily Kamalyan, MA
Graduate Student
Psychiatry
University of California San Diego
San Diego, California, United States
Mobility has been identified as one important ingredient to older adults’ health and well-being and is considered a high priority in the global agenda of healthy and active aging. However, mobility is still a relatively understudied concept in aging research. This symposium, including three empirical studies and one concept paper, presents how different sensing technologies can be utilized to examine mobility, health and well-being in older adults. Using infrared motion sensors and contact sensors, Wu and colleagues examine indoor mobility and show its associations with physical, cognitive, and mental health in community-dwelling older adults living alone. Luo and colleagues use a custom-built mobile GPS sensor and a smartphone-based ambulatory assessment to examine daily mobility and well-being in community-dwelling older adults. They find that a day with larger life space area, more time spent in passive transport modes, and higher number of different locations is associated with higher daily life satisfaction. Similarly, using a GPS sensor combined with a smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment, Kamalyan and colleagues examine life-space mobility, social interactions, and well-being in older adults with and without HIV. They show that prior day’s at-home time is negatively associated with current day’s happiness and that prior day’s social interactions diminishes this association. Jansen presents a project combining sensor-based movement data, GPS-based geolocation data, and experience sampling to investigate relations between life-space mobility and social participation and the role of cultural and climatic differences across several European countries. Hans-Werner Wahl will discuss all papers from an ecological and contextualized aging perspective.
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Minxia Luo, PhD – University of Zurich
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Chao-Yi Wu, PhD, OT – Oregon Health & Science University
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Carl-Philipp Jansen, PhD – Robert-Bosch-Hospital Stuttgart
Individual Symposium Abstract First Author: Lily Kamalyan, MA – University of California San Diego