Facilitating Wellness in Urban-Dwelling, Low-Income Older Adults Through Community Mobility: A Mixed-Methods Study

Community participation is integral to wellness. This study examined the outcomes of Let's Go, a program designed to facilitate community participation of urban-dwelling, low-income older adults.

Fifty-two older adults participated in a mixed-methods, single-group pretest-posttest study. The Impact on Participation and Autonomy Questionnaire, participant surveys, and semistructured interviews were used to evaluate self-reported participation in community-based occupations, confidence, isolation, frequency of community trips, autonomy outdoors, and satisfaction with social life and relationships.

Significant improvement was found in participation, confidence, frequency of community trips, autonomy outdoors, and satisfaction with social life and relationships at 4 wk and 6 mo. Qualitative themes were decreased isolation, importance of peer and community support, increased knowledge of mobility options, and a shift from fear to confidence.

Community mobility programming can facilitate the participation of marginalized older adults in community-based occupations.