Drive with me: Utilizing car-based mobile interviews to investigate place and health

While mobile “go-along” methods are increasingly used to understand and conceptualize the interconnections between health and place, most mobile interviews are conducted on foot. This paper investigates how mobile interviews within cars can advance knowledge of nuanced neighborhood navigation and local place-based features that influence health and well-being. The Neighborhoods and Health at All Ages Study interviewed sixty participants between August 2023 and March 2024. Living across the Minneapolis-St. Paul (MN) metropolitan area, participants were on average 42 years old (range: 23-75). 53% identified as female, 40% male, and 7% non-binary; 22% identified as Hispanic, 22% Asian, 18% non-Hispanic White, 17% Multiracial, 15% Black/African American, 3% American Indian/Alaska Native, and 3% Other. Among 56 participants who completed a mobile interview, nine (aged 23-69) chose to participate by car. The car-based sub-sample forms the primary focus and comparative participant group for this case study analysis. Thematic analysis identified how cars operate as catalysts for novel insights into participants’ built and social environments. Driving together yielded nuanced and broadened perspectives into local services, amenities, and hazards that shape health and well-being. Traveling by car was a highly accessible modality, thereby reducing barriers to participation and enabling environmental exploration amidst inclement weather and other socio-spatial risks. Illustrated through rich participant vignettes, this paper highlights how driving as a mobile interview modality can advance multifaceted, multi-scalar, and relational knowledge of social and behavioral pathways linking local environments and health. Novel findings can support critical methodological advancement and inform meaningful community-level policies and interventions.