IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v245y2020ics0277953619306975.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is accessibility in the eye of the beholder? Social inequalities in spatial accessibility to health-related resources in Montréal, Canada

Author

Listed:
  • Vallée, Julie
  • Shareck, Martine
  • Le Roux, Guillaume
  • Kestens, Yan
  • Frohlich, Katherine L.

Abstract

Neighbourhood resources are often considered to be spatially accessible to people when they are located close to their place of residence, a perspective which overlooks individuals' unique lived experience of their neighbourhood and how they define it. Drawing on the relational approach to place and on Sen's capability approach, we explore spatial accessibility to health-related resources, and the social gradient therein, in light of people's place experiences. Using data from 1101 young adults from Montreal (Canada) who participated in the Interdisciplinary Study of Inequalities in Smoking (ISIS), we compare the social gradients in the presence of health-related resources located (i) within uniform areas (defined as circular buffers and road-network buffers) around participants' place of residence; and (ii) within participants' self-defined neighbourhoods. Social inequalities in accessibility to a diversity of health-related resources (grocery stores, fruit and vegetable stores, eating and drinking places, recreational sports centres, civic, social, and fraternal organizations, bike paths, parks, social services, libraries, dental offices, physician offices) were more pronounced in self-defined neighbourhoods than in uniform buffer areas. Neglecting the variability in people's place experiences may distort the assessment of social inequalities in accessibility, and ultimately, of neighbourhood effects on health inequalities.

Suggested Citation

  • Vallée, Julie & Shareck, Martine & Le Roux, Guillaume & Kestens, Yan & Frohlich, Katherine L., 2020. "Is accessibility in the eye of the beholder? Social inequalities in spatial accessibility to health-related resources in Montréal, Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:245:y:2020:i:c:s0277953619306975
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112702
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953619306975
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112702?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. 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.
    2. Eric Charmes & Roger Keil, 2015. "The Politics of Post-Suburban Densification in Canada and France," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(3), pages 581-602, May.
    3. Abel, Thomas & Frohlich, Katherine L., 2012. "Capitals and capabilities: Linking structure and agency to reduce health inequalities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 236-244.
    4. Pampalon, Robert & Hamel, Denis & De Koninck, Maria & Disant, Marie-Jeanne, 2007. "Perception of place and health: Differences between neighbourhoods in the Québec City region," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 95-111, July.
    5. Powell, L.M. & Slater, S. & Chaloupka, F.J. & Harper, D., 2006. "Availability of physical activity-related facilities and neighborhood demographic and socioeconomic characteristics: A national study," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 96(9), pages 1676-1680.
    6. Morency, Catherine & Paez, Antonio & Roorda, Matthew J. & Mercado, Ruben & Farber, Steven, 2011. "Distance traveled in three Canadian cities: Spatial analysis from the perspective of vulnerable population segments," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 39-50.
    7. Bernard, Paul & Charafeddine, Rana & Frohlich, Katherine L. & Daniel, Mark & Kestens, Yan & Potvin, Louise, 2007. "Health inequalities and place: A theoretical conception of neighbourhood," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(9), pages 1839-1852, November.
    8. Andrea L. Sparks & Neil Bania & Laura Leete, 2011. "Comparative Approaches to Measuring Food Access in Urban Areas," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(8), pages 1715-1737, June.
    9. Nordbakke, Susanne, 2013. "Capabilities for mobility among urban older women: barriers, strategies and options," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 166-174.
    10. Cummins, Steven & Curtis, Sarah & Diez-Roux, Ana V. & Macintyre, Sally, 2007. "Understanding and representing 'place' in health research: A relational approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(9), pages 1825-1838, November.
    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. Voicu, Bogdan & Fărcășanu, Dana & Mustață, Mirela & Deliu, Alexandra & Vișinescu, Iulia, 2023. "Using laws, common sense, and statistical approaches to design indicators for ‘medical desertification’. An application on the Romanian case," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).
    2. Glenn, N.M. & Frohlich, K.L. & Vallée, J., 2020. "Socio-spatial inequalities in smoking among young adults: What a ‘go-along’ study says about local smoking practices," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    3. Tao, Zhuolin & Zhao, Min, 2023. "Planning for equal transit-based accessibility of healthcare facilities: A case study of Shenzhen, China," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 88(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. Macintyre, Sally & Macdonald, Laura & Ellaway, Anne, 2008. "Do poorer people have poorer access to local resources and facilities? The distribution of local resources by area deprivation in Glasgow, Scotland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(6), pages 900-914, September.
    2. Spielman, Seth E. & Yoo, Eun-hye, 2009. "The spatial dimensions of neighborhood effects," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(6), pages 1098-1105, March.
    3. Garthwaite, Kayleigh & Bambra, Clare, 2017. "“How the other half live”: Lay perspectives on health inequalities in an age of austerity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 268-275.
    4. Petteway, Ryan J. & Mujahid, Mahasin & Allen, Amani & Morello-Frosch, Rachel, 2019. "The body language of place: A new method for mapping intergenerational “geographies of embodiment” in place-health research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 51-63.
    5. Shankardass, Ketan & Robertson, Colin & Shaughnessy, Krystelle & Sykora, Martin & Feick, Rob, 2019. "A unified ecological framework for studying effects of digital places on well-being," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 227(C), pages 119-127.
    6. Petrović, Ana & Manley, David & van Ham, Maarten, 2018. "Freedom from the Tyranny of Neighbourhood: Rethinking Socio-Spatial Context Effects," IZA Discussion Papers 11416, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Giatti, Luana & Barreto, Sandhi M. & César, Cibele C., 2010. "Unemployment and self-rated health: Neighborhood influence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(4), pages 815-823, August.
    8. Ivory, Vivienne C. & Russell, Marie & Witten, Karen & Hooper, Carolyn M. & Pearce, Jamie & Blakely, Tony, 2015. "What shape is your neighbourhood? Investigating the micro geographies of physical activity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 313-321.
    9. 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.
    10. Burke, Jessica & O'Campo, Patricia & Salmon, Christina & Walker, Renee, 2009. "Pathways connecting neighborhood influences and mental well-being: Socioeconomic position and gender differences," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 1294-1304, April.
    11. Thompson, Tess & Rodebaugh, Thomas L. & Pérez, Maria & Struthers, James & Sefko, Julianne A. & Lian, Min & Schootman, Mario & Jeffe, Donna B., 2016. "Influence of neighborhood-level factors on social support in early-stage breast cancer patients and controls," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 55-63.
    12. Maria Holst Algren & Carsten Kronborg Bak & Gabriele Berg-Beckhoff & Pernille Tanggaard Andersen, 2015. "Health-Risk Behaviour in Deprived Neighbourhoods Compared with Non-Deprived Neighbourhoods: A Systematic Literature Review of Quantitative Observational Studies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(10), pages 1-17, October.
    13. Ángel R. Zapata-Moya & María J. Martín-Díaz & Francisco J. Viciana-Fernández, 2021. "Area-Based Policies and Potential Health Benefits: A Quasi-Experimental Cohort Study in Vulnerable Urban Areas of Andalusia (Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-17, July.
    14. Diane Coffey & Ashwini Deshpande & Jeffrey Hammer & Dean Spears, 2019. "Local Social Inequality, Economic Inequality, and Disparities in Child Height in India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(4), pages 1427-1452, August.
    15. Kamruzzaman, Md. & Baker, Douglas & Washington, Simon & Turrell, Gavin, 2013. "Residential dissonance and mode choice," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 12-28.
    16. Sékou Samadoulougou & Laurence Letarte & Alexandre Lebel, 2022. "Association between Neighbourhood Deprivation Trajectories and Self-Perceived Health: Analysis of a Linked Survey and Health Administrative Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-14, December.
    17. Mitchell, Richard & Dujardin, Claire & Popham, Frank & Farfan Portet, Maria-Isabel & Thomas, Isabelle & Lorant, Vincent, 2011. "Using matched areas to explore international differences in population health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(8), pages 1113-1122.
    18. Hanibuchi, Tomoya & Murata, Yohei & Ichida, Yukinobu & Hirai, Hiroshi & Kawachi, Ichiro & Kondo, Katsunori, 2012. "Place-specific constructs of social capital and their possible associations to health: A Japanese case study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 225-232.
    19. Vásquez-Vera, Hugo & Palència, Laia & Magna, Ingrid & Mena, Carlos & Neira, Jaime & Borrell, Carme, 2017. "The threat of home eviction and its effects on health through the equity lens: A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 199-208.
    20. Plane, Jocelyn & Klodawsky, Fran, 2013. "Neighbourhood amenities and health: Examining the significance of a local park," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 1-8.

    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:245:y:2020:i:c:s0277953619306975. 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.