PERCEIVED QUALITY OF LIFE OF CLEAR CREEK TRAIL USERS IN BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA

Abstract

Multi-use trails can contribute to mobility and access, reliability, social equity, the environment and ultimately to quality of life in a community (Shafer, Lee, & Turner, 2000). A study has found that community trails facilitate physical activities and frequent trail use is significantly related to an activity-friendly neighborhood. Furthermore, physical activities benefits are an indirect to trial users, enhancing quality of life and psychological well-being (Librett et al., 2006). The goal of this study is to investigate to what extent demographic characteristics and present user patterns affect the quality of life (QOL) of trial users in Bloomington, Indiana. The participants (n=134) in this study were intercepted on the three trail entrances- Tapp Road, That Road and Church Lane during September and October 2009. Participants were asked to complete two questionnaires- Clear Creek Trail User Survey (Eppley Institute, 2007)and World Health Organization Quality of life brief version (WHOQOL-BREF) (Bonomi & Patrick, 1997). Trail users’ demographic characteristics and time duration spend on the trail were main independent variables in this study. The data were analyzed by using Pearson r test, ANOVA and independent t-test. There was no correlation found between time duration users spend on the trail and their quality of life. However, gender and house income correlated with the users’ overall quality of life.