Developing An Age-friendly Mosques' Structure Assessment Tool

Many studies have proved the positive impact of public environment proportion on the quality of life of the elderly people. One of the environments that have appropriate effects for the elderly is religious places such as mosques. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a tool for structural fitness of age-friendly mosques, in a way that factors affecting the mosques to be age-friendly can be recognized through preparation of a standard checklist.

The components of the tool were developed through reviewing scientific literatures and sites. Measuring methods of face and content validity were used to investigate the validity of the research. The content validity was explored by employing a panel of 12 experts, including 4 individuals with PhDs in Gerontology, 4 Ergonomists, and 4 experts with PhD or Master’s degree in Civil Engineering. For the face validity, 20 individuals were surveyed, who were expected to complete the checklist when the project was operationalized. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to determine the reliability.

The primary tool included 145 items in 12 domains, which were reduced to 121 items in 10 domains within the group discussion. Following the investigation of validity and reliability of the research, the number of final items of the tool was gathered in 80 questions. The mean of content validity index of the tool was calculated 0.96, Content validity Ration was greater than 0.56, and the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.875.

The assessment tool of age-friendly mosques is available with appropriate validity and reliability to evaluate structural barriers in public places, including mosques. By studying the assessment tool, it is anticipated that the problems of access to the elderly in the mosque and other spaces would be identified and accessibility would be encouraged in the society.