Measuring the Impact of Transportation in Quality of Life, Social Support, and Health.

Abstract

Transportation has a great impact on the evolution of societies, such as the level of communication, exchanges of goods and a great social importance. Through transportation the connection and contact with friends, family, and goods, basically with the community itself, becomes easier. One of the social functions of the transport system is to ease integration of urban areas in economic, social and recreational activities, providing adequate answers to the needs of population. This paper presents the results of a preliminary investigation concerning the impact of mobility and accessibility in the quality of life, social support, and health in general. The population studied consisted of 539 individuals. The research question was to understand whether there were differences in Health, Quality of Life and Social Support, and respective subscales, among the participants considering their Mobility and Accessibility choice and availability. The instrument used was a questionnaire based on self-assessment divided into 5 sections; Transportation Pattern, Quality of Life, Social Support, Health and Bio-Demographic characterization. The objective of this investigation is to demonstrate the impact of Transportation on Health, Quality of Life and Social Support.