IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v202y2018icp89-98.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A geographically explicit ecological momentary assessment (GEMA) mixed method for understanding substance use

Author

Listed:
  • McQuoid, Julia
  • Thrul, Johannes
  • Ling, Pamela

Abstract

Tobacco use is increasingly concentrated within marginalized groups, including LGBTQ+ young adults. Developing tailored interventions to reduce tobacco-related health disparities requires understanding the mechanisms linking individual and contextual factors associated with tobacco use to behavior. This paper presents an in-depth exploration of three cases from a novel mixed method study designed to identify the situational factors and place-based practices of substance use among high-risk individuals. We combined geographically explicit ecological momentary assessment (GEMA) with an adapted travel diary-interview method. Participants (young adult bisexual smokers, ages 18–26) reported on non-smoking and smoking situations for 30 days with a smartphone app. GEMA surveys captured internal and external situational factors (e.g., craving intensity, location type, seeing others smoking). Continuous locational data was collected via smartphone GPS. Subsequently, participants completed in-depth interviews reviewing maps of their own GEMA data. GEMA data and transcripts were analyzed separately and integrated at the case level in a matrix. Using GEMA maps to guide the interview grounded discussion in participants' everyday smoking situations and routines. Interviews clarified participant interpretation of GEMA measures and revealed experiences and meanings of smoking locations and practices. The GEMA method identified the most frequent smoking locations/times for each participant (e.g., afternoons at university). Interviews provided description of associated situational factors and perceptions of smoking contexts (e.g., peer rejection of bisexual identity) and the roles of smoking therein (e.g., physically escape uncomfortable environments). In conclusion, this mixed method contributes to advancing qualitative GIS and other hypothesis-generating approaches working to reveal the richness of individuals’ experiences of the everyday contexts of health behavior, while also providing reliable measures of situational predictors of behaviors of interest, such as substance use. Limitations of and future directions for the method are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • McQuoid, Julia & Thrul, Johannes & Ling, Pamela, 2018. "A geographically explicit ecological momentary assessment (GEMA) mixed method for understanding substance use," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 89-98.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:202:y:2018:i:c:p:89-98
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.02.014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953618300704
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.02.014?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Glenn, Nicole M. & Lapalme, Josée & McCready, Geneviève & Frohlich, Katherine L., 2017. "Young adults' experiences of neighbourhood smoking-related norms and practices: A qualitative study exploring place-based social inequalities in smoking," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 17-24.
    2. McQuoid, Julia & Jowsey, Tanisha & Talaulikar, Girish, 2017. "Contextualising renal patient routines: Everyday space-time contexts, health service access, and wellbeing," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 142-150.
    3. Rainham, Daniel & McDowell, Ian & Krewski, Daniel & Sawada, Mike, 2010. "Conceptualizing the healthscape: Contributions of time geography, location technologies and spatial ecology to place and health research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(5), pages 668-676, March.
    4. McQuoid, Julia & Dijst, Martin, 2012. "Bringing emotions to time geography: the case of mobilities of poverty," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 26-34.
    5. Frohlich, Katherine L. & Potvin, Louise & Chabot, Patrick & Corin, Ellen, 2002. "A theoretical and empirical analysis of context: : neighbourhoods, smoking and youth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 54(9), pages 1401-1417, May.
    6. Meijering, Louise & Weitkamp, Gerd, 2016. "Numbers and narratives: Developing a mixed-methods approach to understand mobility in later life," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 200-206.
    7. Berg, Jessica & Levin, Lena & Abramsson, Marianne & Hagberg, Jan-Erik, 2014. "Mobility in the transition to retirement – the intertwining of transportation and everyday projects," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 48-54.
    8. Debbie Lager & Bettina Van Hoven & Paulus PP Huigen, 2016. "Rhythms, ageing and neighbourhoods," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(8), pages 1565-1580, August.
    9. McQuoid, Julia, 2017. "Finding joy in poor health: The leisure-scapes of chronic illness," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 88-96.
    10. Deborah Naybor & Jessie P. H. Poon & Irene Casas, 2016. "Mobility Disadvantage and Livelihood Opportunities of Marginalized Widowed Women in Rural Uganda," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 106(2), pages 404-412, March.
    11. Hernandez, Diego & Rossel, Cecilia, 2015. "Inequality and access to social services in Latin America: space–time constraints of child health checkups and prenatal care in Montevideo," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 24-32.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Robert Suchting & Michael S. Businelle & Stephen W. Hwang & Nikhil S. Padhye & Yijiong Yang & Diane M. Santa Maria, 2020. "Predicting Daily Sheltering Arrangements among Youth Experiencing Homelessness Using Diary Measurements Collected by Ecological Momentary Assessment," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-17, September.
    2. Jeremy Mennis & Michael Mason & Donna L. Coffman & Kevin Henry, 2018. "Geographic Imputation of Missing Activity Space Data from Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) GPS Positions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-15, December.
    3. Kim, Jisun & Kim, Dong Ha & Lee, Jihyun & Cheon, Youngseo & Yoo, Seunghyun, 2022. "A scoping review of qualitative geographic information systems in studies addressing health issues," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. McQuoid, Julia & Jowsey, Tanisha & Talaulikar, Girish, 2017. "Contextualising renal patient routines: Everyday space-time contexts, health service access, and wellbeing," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 142-150.
    2. Yu, Shaolu, 2016. "“I am like a deaf, dumb and blind person”: Mobility and immobility of Chinese (im)migrants in Flushing, Queens, New York City," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 10-21.
    3. Morris, Stephanie & Guell, Cornelia & Pollard, Tessa M., 2019. "Group walking as a “lifeline”: Understanding the place of outdoor walking groups in women's lives," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Franke, Thea & Winters, Meghan & McKay, Heather & Chaudhury, Habib & Sims-Gould, Joanie, 2017. "A grounded visualization approach to explore sociospatial and temporal complexities of older adults' mobility," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 193(C), pages 59-69.
    5. Boisjoly, Geneviève & Serra, Bernardo & Oliveira, Gabriel T. & El-Geneidy, Ahmed, 2020. "Accessibility measurements in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba and Recife, Brazil," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    6. Lena Levin, 2019. "How May Public Transport Influence the Practice of Everyday Life among Younger and Older People and How May Their Practices Influence Public Transport?," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-16, March.
    7. Jean Ryan, 2020. "Examining the Process of Modal Choice for Everyday Travel Among Older People," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-19, January.
    8. Daniel Oviedo & Lynn Scholl & Marco Innao & Lauramaria Pedraza, 2019. "Do Bus Rapid Transit Systems Improve Accessibility to Job Opportunities for the Poor? The Case of Lima, Peru," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-24, May.
    9. Noah Kaiser & Christina K. Barstow, 2022. "Rural Transportation Infrastructure in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Review of Impacts, Implications, and Interventions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-48, February.
    10. Kiros Tsegay & Hongzhong Fan & AM Priyangani Adikari & Hailay Shifare, 2021. "Does gender matter for household livelihood diversification in Ethiopia rural areas?," International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147-4478), Center for the Strategic Studies in Business and Finance, vol. 10(6), pages 221-232, September.
    11. Næss, Petter & Peters, Sebastian & Stefansdottir, Harpa & Strand, Arvid, 2018. "Causality, not just correlation: Residential location, transport rationales and travel behavior across metropolitan contexts," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 181-195.
    12. Marketta Kyttä & Anna Broberg & Mohammed Haybatollahi & Kaisa Schmidt-Thomé, 2016. "Urban happiness: context-sensitive study of the social sustainability of urban settings," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 43(1), pages 34-57, January.
    13. Kiros Tsegay & Hongzhong Fan & Hailay Shifare & Priyangani Adikari, 2021. "Does credit access matter for household livelihood diversification in Ethiopia?An evidence from logistic regression model," International Journal of Business Ecosystem & Strategy (2687-2293), Bussecon International Academy, vol. 3(2), pages 51-61, April.
    14. Sturge, Jodi & Klaassens, Mirjam & Lager, Debbie & Weitkamp, Gerd & Vegter, Daan & Meijering, Louise, 2021. "Using the concept of activity space to understand the social health of older adults living with memory problems and dementia at home," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    15. Gordon, Ross & Harada, Theresa & Spotswood, Fiona, 2022. "The body politics of successful ageing in the nexus of health, well-being and energy consumption practices," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    16. Shearer, Cindy & Rainham, Daniel & Blanchard, Chris & Dummer, Trevor & Lyons, Renee & Kirk, Sara, 2015. "Measuring food availability and accessibility among adolescents: Moving beyond the neighbourhood boundary," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 322-330.
    17. Jayachandran, Seema & Biradavolu, Monica & Cooper, Jan, 2021. "Using Machine Learning and Qualitative Interviews to Design a Five-Question Women's Agency Index," IZA Discussion Papers 14221, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Olle Järv & Kerli Müürisepp & Rein Ahas & Ben Derudder & Frank Witlox, 2015. "Ethnic differences in activity spaces as a characteristic of segregation: A study based on mobile phone usage in Tallinn, Estonia," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(14), pages 2680-2698, November.
    19. Berg, Jessica & Levin, Lena & Abramsson, Marianne & Hagberg, Jan-Erik, 2014. "Mobility in the transition to retirement – the intertwining of transportation and everyday projects," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 48-54.
    20. Erin York Cornwell & Kathleen A Cagney, 2017. "Aging in Activity Space: Results From Smartphone-Based GPS-Tracking of Urban Seniors," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 72(5), pages 864-875.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:202:y:2018:i:c:p:89-98. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.