2021 ESRI App Challenge

Addressing the spatial inequalities in access to health and family wellness services for low-income and lone-parent female families in Halifax, NS.

Meg MacKay is a fifth-year student at Dalhousie University, majoring in environmental science. Meg spent her undergrad learning about some of her varied interests (and switching programs a couple times!), from journalism, to sustainability, to geography. She has got a new-found passion for spatial information and is especially interested in how geographic information science and technology can be used to look at social and environmental issues. This year’s theme for the ESRI App Challenge allowed her to explore just that!

Sage Mosgrove is a 4th year undergraduate student from Dalhousie University, studying environmental science and economics. She is an interdisciplinary student with interests in food system sustainability, ecological economics, and geographic information science. After graduation, Sage hopes to have a relaxing summer before taking on a research-based Master of Environmental Studies Degree, using her GIS knowledge to address issues of food system sustainability and development in Canada.

Mariah St Pierre is a fifth-year student at Dalhousie University, working towards a BSc in Environmental Science, a minor in Statistics, certificates in GIS and EIA with co-op option. She has grown her passion for environmental justice, physical geography and spatial analysis through various courses and work terms while at Dal. She is currently employed with Northern Affairs Canada in renewable energy programming for northern remote communities and hopes to join full-time after her graduation this spring. Mariah is considering a Masters of Geodesy and Geomatic Engineering at UNB in the coming years but hopes to gain some real-world work experience first. 

Mission statement and Background--

In today’s world, gender equality, income equality and women’s empowerment are rising issues that have impacts across all facets of life. Naturally, there is a spatial component to the barriers that these populations face. Important factors like where facilities are located, for example, can greatly impact quality of life. Our team has chosen to address gender inequality in low-income neighbourhoods by specifically looking at income levels of single-mother families and their geospatial access to health and family wellness services. In general, low-income neighbourhoods have disproportionately lower access to services and healthy environments in part due to where the health facilities are located and the means of transportation to get to them. As it is often women who take on the role of primary caretaker for children, this web application will help determine the extent to which health and family wellness services in the Halifax Regional Municipality are accessible to low-income single mothers. Further, our map will be used to determine the spatial gaps that cause these inequalities and potentially help in decision-making when considering where to put a new facility.  

Characteristics of the map that help the end user --

Our map includes the following layers that are health and family wellness services: healthcare facilities, parenting program centers, family resource centers, public washrooms, parks. We also added to our map critical bus routes, other bus routes, bike paths and trails that serve as the accessibility layers for transportation to get to the services. The final characteristics are two Census layers. The first is percentage of single mothers per Dissemination Area and the second is median household income for single parent families per Dissemination Area. Using these Census layers combined with the accessible transportation layers and the health and family wellness layers, we can analyze spatial patterns that otherwise may not be easily noticed.  

We created our app to not only see if health and family wellness services are accessible to low-income, single-mother families, but to see where the gaps in these services are that our population may experience. Finally, our map may be used to inform decision-making regarding where to put additional health and family wellness facilities to reduce the gender and income inequalities seen in our map. It is important to note that these variables are not mutually exclusive due to factors like the wage gap, impacts of maternity leave on career opportunities, childcare duties and societal pressure. Reducing inequalities for low-income neighbourhoods and single-mother families must include removing accessibility barriers to healthcare as well as fostering equal access to social support and a healthy environment. Overall, better access to these resources will help close the gaps between income and gender equality and human health.

Data Layers --

• Proportion of population who are lone-parent female: According to Statistics Canada, most lone-parent families are made-up of lone mothers (Statistics Canada, 2015). Further more, studies show that lone-parent mothers have poorer health compared to two-parent mothers (Statistics Canada, 1999 ). However, lone-parenthood alone was not found to be a determining factor in health; lone-parenthood has an increased likelihood to intersect with other social determinants of health including income, education, disability, and race, thus leading to poorer health for the group of lone-mothers (Statistics Canada, 1999).
• Median income of lone-parent families: Lone-parent families make up the biggest proportion of the population that are considered low-income, or with an income below the poverty line cut-offs (Statistics Canada, 2015). Income is a well-know and well-studied social determinant of health, and multiple studies have shown that low socio-economic status is associated with poorer health (Statistics Canada, 1999).
• Health Care Services (Hospitals; Health Care Facilities): This layer includes services directly related to healthcare like clinics, mental health services, addiction care, disability care, pre- and post-natal care, midwifery, women’s clinics, and more.
• Parenting Resources (Parenting Programs; Family Resource Centers; Parks; Public Washrooms): This layer contains parenting resources that address the following social determinants of health: gender equality, early childhood development. They are related to childcare and outdoor activities as well as parenting and family programs.
• Accessible Routes (Public Transit; Bike Routes; Active Trails): This layer shows public transit and active transportation routes throughout HRM. We have included it to show the different ways one may access a health and family wellness service.

The Map --

The user can zoom to the different areas of the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) and can analyze spatial patterns of each layer.

1. For example, percentage of single-mother families by Census Dissemination Area (DA) is shown; you can see where the highest percent of this specific demographic is located in space.
2. Point features and line features are included and represent different health and family wellness services.
3. By using these layers in conjunction with the above Census data, users will be able to see the possible ways our population of interest has access to health and family wellness services.
4. Users may then chose to go further into analyzing possible gaps in service locations that represent a possible proxy for health inequalities in low-income and single-mother families. 

Conclusion --

Our mission is to not only see if these services are accessible for low-income, single-mother families, but to see where the gaps in accessibility are, and how one can potentially inform decision-making with this information.

Reducing inequalities for low-income neighbourhoods and single-mother families must include removing accessibility barriers to healthcare as well as fostering equal access to social support and a healthy environment. Overall, better access to these resources will help close the gaps between income and gender equality and human health.

References --

Data sources: Halifax Open Data, Nova Scotia Open Data Portal, Nova Scotia Health, Maritime Health Atlas.

Perez, C., Beaudat, M. P. (1999). The Health of Lone Mothers. Health Reports, Vol 11, No. 2. Retrieved from:   https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/82-003-x/1999002/article/4733-eng.pdf?st=-TslR0gG  

Canadian Public Health Association: Social Determinants of Health  https://www.cpha.ca/what-are-social-determinants-health