Title
Uncertainties In The Geographic Context Of Health Behaviors: A Study Of Substance Users' Exposure To Psychosocial Stress Using Gps Data
Abstract
This study examined how contextual areas defined and operationalized differently may lead to different exposure estimates. Substance users' exposures to environmental stress (in terms of two variables: community social economic status and crime) were assessed from global positioning systems (GPS) data. Participants were 47 outpatients with substance use disorders admitted for methadone maintenance at a research clinic in Baltimore, Maryland. From 35.2 million GPS tracking points, we compared 7 different methods for defining activity space. The different methods yielded different exposure estimates, which would lead to different conclusions in studies using only one method. These results have important implications for future research on the effect of contextual influences on health behaviors and outcomes: whether a study observes any significant influence of an environmental factor on health may depend on what contextual units are used to assess individual exposure.
Year
DOI
Venue
2019
10.1080/13658816.2018.1503276
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SCIENCE
Keywords
Field
DocType
Geographic context, contextual uncertainties, substance use, GPS data, the uncertain geographic context problem
Gps data,Computer science,Psychosocial,Environmental stress,Artificial intelligence,Operationalization,Machine learning,Applied psychology
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
33
6
1365-8816
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
1
0.35
1
Authors
6
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Mei-Po Kwan133645.13
Jue Wang210.35
Matthew Tyburski3171.52
David Epstein4514.62
William J. Kowalczyk510.35
Kenzie L. Preston6172.20