Development and validation of a computer expertise questionnaire for older adults

Prior computer expertise represents one of the most important predictors of performance when interacting with ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) and acquiring computer skills. Due to demographic changes, the older adult will become increasingly important as a potential user. However, there is a lack of instruments for the assessment of computer expertise in older adults, especially for novice users with restricted prior computer knowledge. A computer expertise (CE) questionnaire for older adults was developed, analysed (Study I) and validated (Study II). Item-analysis showed that the CE-questionnaire is particularly appropriate for the computer knowledge level of older adults and measures computer expertise sufficiently. Furthermore, it was found that computer experience (in terms of frequency of computer usage) is a poor predictor of actual computer performance, which has important implications for the theoretical conceptualization of computer expertise and its assessment.     

Development and validation of a computer attitude measure for young students (CAMYS)

An important aspect in successfully implementing instructional technology in educational settings is user acceptance, which is greatly influenced by users’ attitudes towards computers. Today, computers have become an integral part of instruction at all levels of education and it is important for educators and policy makers to understand how various factors interact with the user’s characteristics to influence the teaching and learning process involving the use of computers. Over the years, many scales have been developed to measure computer attitudes of secondary students and adults. Few have been develop to be used for students in the primary schools. The aim of this study is to develop and validate a computer attitude measure for young students (CAMYS). The revised 12-item CAMYS was piloted with 256 students aged 10–12 with a mean of 11.9 years (SD = 0.31). Several statistical analyses were performed to assess the reliability and validity of the measure. The measure, together with suggestions for administration and scoring are included.     

Computer use by older adults: A multi-disciplinary review

As the populations of most of the world’s developed nations experience an increase in average age, a similar trend is being observed in the population of computer and Internet users. In many cases, older adults are the fastest growing computer and Internet user group in both personal and workplace contexts. However, the needs and concerns of older adults as computer users differ from those of younger users as a result of the natural changes associated with the aging process. Much research has been conducted in a variety of fields in order to understand how these changes experienced by older adults impact their use of computers and the Internet. This article reviews this existing research and provides a holistic view of the field. Since the study of computer use by older adults is a multi-disciplinary topic by nature, we provide a synthesis of the findings across these many disciplines, and attempt to highlight any gaps that exist. We use Social Cognitive Theory as a lens to view and organize the literature, as well as illustrate means through which computer use by this user group can be encouraged. Finally, suggestions for future research are proposed, and implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Internet use and depression among older adults

The findings regarding the impact of Internet use on well-being are mixed and studies are often criticized due to small samples and lack of consistency in measurement. Fewer studies have examined this issue among older adults. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between Internet use and depression among retired Americans age 50 years or older. Using data from the Health and Retirement Survey, the study estimates the relationship between Internet use and depression through combined use of regression and propensity score methodologies. All empirical methods indicate a positive contribution of Internet use to mental well-being of retired older adults (?50 years), reducing depression categorization by approximately 20–28%.     

Speech interaction for older adults

Interaction with electronic speech products is becoming a fact of life through telephone answering systems and speech-driven booking systems, and is set to increase in the future. Older adults will be obliged to use more of these electronic products, and because of their special interactional needs due to age-related impairments it is important that such interactions are designed to suit the needs of such users, and in particular, that appropriate mechanisms are put in place to support learning of older users about interaction. Drawing upon the expertise of tutors at Age Concern Oxfordshire, and the results of preliminary investigations with older adults using dialogues in a speech system, this paper explores the conditions which best provide for the learning experience of older adults, and looks at special features which enable instructions and help for learning to be embedded within speech dialogue design.     

Decision tree models for characterizing smoking patterns of older adults

The main objective of the present paper is to characterize smoking behavior among older adults by assessing the psychological distress, physical health status, alcohol use, and demographic variables in relations to the current smoking. We targeted 466 senior American smokers who are 65 years of age or older from the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH, 2006). We employed a decision tree algorithm to conduct classification analysis to find the relationship between the average numbers of cigarette use per day. The results showed that the most important explanatory variable for prediction of the average number of cigarette use per day is the age when first started smoking cigarettes every day, followed by education level, and psychological distress. These results suggest that social workers need to provide more customized and individualized intervention to older adults.     

Multimodality and interactional differences in older adults

Many age-associated impairments such as loss of memory and vision make computer use difficult for older adults. This paper is concerned with interface design in a voice Web browser, which compensates for age-associated impairments, particularly loss of memory and vision. It describes a special Voice Help facility talking to older adults through their browser interaction, and reports experiments to establish the mixes of output media (text and speech) that are most effective for information transfer. In particular, the paper demonstrates that older adults retention of spoken output is different to that of younger people. The paper provides information on absorption rates for different media for older adults, which supports the design of multimodal systems suited to older adults. This is important for the development of systems that enable older adults to absorb information easily.     

Detecting abnormal behaviours of institutionalized older adults through a hybrid-inference approach

Residences for geriatric patients are usually understaffed, with each caregiver being in charge of several residents. A caregiver must assess the well being of residents and report to the medical staff if there is something unusual with a resident. Deviations from the routine will trigger an alarm, and automatic tools can help in making timely decisions.In this paper, we explore three visualization metaphors aiming at providing caregivers with an individualized overview of the activities carried out by residents in a given time frame. We postulate that this overview is sufficient to distinguish between normal and abnormal periods of time when visually compared in groups. We also present two automated approaches, data driven and knowledge driven respectively, to detect abnormalities. The visualization and the automated approaches are tested on a naturalistic dataset obtained from a long-term personalized sensing and annotation campaign in a residence for geriatric patients. Data is of two types, obtained from IoT infrastructure and wearables and from manual annotations made by the staff. Both approaches were empirically evaluated and validated in the paper. A side product of this research is a large repository of cleansed data from the sensing and annotation campaign for 45 older adults over a period of 39 months.     

Personalization of Web browsing: adaptations to meet the needs of older adults

Despite difficulties in using the Web, older adults are motivated to use it. This paper reports on work underway to ease Web access for this population. Although Web accessibility standards provide specifications that Web content providers must incorporate if their pages are to be accessible, these standards do not guarantee a good experience for all Web users. This paper will discuss user controls that make a number of dynamic adaptations to page presentation and input that can greatly increase the usability of Web pages for older users. The paper will discuss the authors original work on the topic, lessons learned, and usage patterns. Current extensions to that work are also discussed.     

Remote patient monitoring acceptance trends among older adults residing in a frontier state

This pilot study aims to present a methodological approach for investigating remote patient monitoring system acceptance trends for older adults residing in a frontier state. For this purpose, extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) variables, which included subjective norm, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and behavioral intention were investigated using growth curve methods and modern resampling techniques. Results revealed our methodological and analytical approach shows promise for investigating technology acceptance over time on subjects where little literature exists and where recruiting adequate sample sizes for statistical power purposes may be challenging. Results of the data analysis showed there was a significant and reliable linear trend on subjective norm. Time did not predict perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, or behavioral intention, indicating the levels of these factors were high and stable over the course of the study. Older adults accepted remote patient monitoring, and family and friends may influence technology acceptance promoting behaviors. The longer participants used the technology, the more they perceived those important to them would want them to use it. Attention to social influence to optimize the implementation of in-home health monitoring among this population is warranted. Recommendations for future research are provided.     

Daily living activities in older adults: Part I—a review of physical activity and dietary intake assessment methods

The aging process is expected to change advanced activities of daily living (such as employment and work activities), to basic activities of daily living (BADL; such as self-care activities, which is also considered work among older adults). In effect, older adults spend more energy on physical activities related to BADL, compared to heavy physical activity in any industrial work. Hence, accurate assessment of the type and extent of physical activity becomes critical for estimation of the activity metabolism, especially in older adults. Once an assessment of activity metabolism is made, energy balance can be quantified by comparing energy expenditure (including resting activity, and digestive metabolism) with caloric intake. Instruments and techniques available to quantify physical activity in older adults, and caloric intake in older adults are reviewed in this paper. The emphasis in this review is on questionnaire-based instruments that minimize burden on the investigator and the participant. Validity and reliability of the assessment instruments are also discussed.

Relevance to industry

Since most work activities requiring energy expenditure among older adults, especially retirees, consist of BADL, accurate assessment of activity metabolism and dietary intake is necessary for designing these work activities for older adults.     

Daily living activities in older adults: Part II—effect of age on physical activity patterns in older Mexican American adults

This paper, the second of a two-part paper, reports results from an experimental study conducted to understand physical activity patterns, and determine the effect of age on physical activity patterns in older Mexican American adults. The Yale Physical Activity Survey was administered to 49 older Mexican American adults (42 females and seven males), aged 68–80 years, recruited from senior recreation centers in the city of El Paso. Based on participant responses to questions about the type and duration of different types of physical activities, overall physical activity indices including the total time (h/week), the total energy expenditure (kcal/week), a summary index score, a vigorous activity score (units/month), a leisurely walking score (units/month), a moving score (units/month), and a standing and sitting score (both in units/month) were computed. These responses were then regressed with age (as the predictor variable). Since the number of older males in the study was small, data from men and women were combined. Results indicate that the standing score index (p<0.1) and the sitting score index (p<0.05) are linearly related to age. None of the other Yale Physical Activity Survey indices including the total time index and the weekly energy expenditure index are linearly related to age. Fitted line plots for Yale indices that do not show a linear relationship with age indicate that total time, energy expenditure, leisurely walking index score, and summary index score, all have a quadratic fit with age. A cubic fit is indicated for the vigorous activity score and the moving index score.

Relevance to industry

Understanding physical activity patterns (both work and leisure activities in daily living) in older adults is important for estimation of activity metabolism for among older adults.     

Equivalence of paper-and-pencil and computerized self-report surveys in older adults

Research is lacking on the equivalence of paper-and-pencil and computer-administered surveys in older adult samples. In addition, few comparability studies have used best practices for examining equivalence. The current study investigated quantitative (means), qualitative (internal consistency and intercorrelations), and auxiliary (missing items, completion time, and comfort) equivalence for completing self-report surveys in paper-and-pencil or computerized conditions in an older adult sample. One hundred and eight older adults ages 60 and over were randomly assigned to a paper-and-pencil or computer condition and completed questionnaires assessing personality, social desirability, and computer self-efficacy. Results generally showed qualitative equivalence, with some notable differences for quantitative and auxiliary equivalence.     

Individual differences in response to cognitive training: Using a multi-modal,attentionally demanding game-based intervention for older adults

The effectiveness of a game-based cognitive training intervention on multiple abilities was assessed in a sample of 39 older adults aged 60–77. The intervention task was chosen based on a cognitive task analysis designed to determine the attentional and multi-modal demands of the game. Improvements on a measure of attention were found for the intervention group compared to controls. Furthermore, for the intervention group only, initial ability scores predicted improvements on both tests of attention and spatial orientation. These results suggest cognitive training may be more effective for those initially lower in ability.     

Website design attributes for retrieving health information by older adults: an application of architectural criteria

The objectives of this research were to identify design attributes to develop easy-to-use websites for older adults. Forty-one males and 58 females (age range 58–90) were asked to retrieve information on a health-related topic from the NHS Direct and Medicdirect websites, and were asked to fill in a website evaluation questionnaire. An exploratory factor analysis of data identified navigation/search usability, link usability, usefulness and colour as important dimensions of a senior-friendly website. A two-stage, three-component regression model with these dimensions as predictor variables and the satisfaction level in using a website as the dependent variable has been proposed.     

Learning to use new technologies by older adults: Perceived difficulties,experimentation behaviour and usability

This paper examines the factors and theoretical frameworks for the adoption of technology for older adults, and proposes two models of technology acceptance and rejection, one from an ease of learning perspective, and one from a system and user perspective. Both models are supported from reports on two case studies of older adults using handheld touchscreen tablet devices; one in which the participants are supported during tasks primarily related to walking and navigation, and one in which participants are unsupported in communication related tasks. The first study shows the powerful role that facilitating conditions have for learning how to use digital technologies for this user group, whether supporting through step by step guidance, providing a friendly space to use trial and error methods, and/or provision of a manual. The second study shows the pitfalls of a lack of facilitating conditions during initial use, and highlights potential for appropriate design in helping to avoid some user errors during this phase.     

Validation of a recording system for computer pointing device activity

This study reports on the development of the pointing device activity monitoring software, Mlog, which is used to assess elements of computer use such as pointing device use time. The Mlog monitoring program was written with Virtual C++ and is 1.59 MB in size. It is applicable for computers equipped with computer processing units (CPUs) of 1 GHz or faster, and records pointing device activity at the millisecond level. The accuracy, precision, and reliability of the Mlog monitoring program were tested by comparing Mlog-recorded activity time intervals, for example, the time interval between pressing and releasing the pointing device key, against oscilloscope-recorded pointing device electric signals. For most tested time intervals, the Mlog monitoring program's margin of error for accuracy was within ±0.50%, and it boasted precision error rate of less than 1.00%. Correlation coefficients between the Mlog recordings and the references were all greater than 0.99905, with the highest values observed for dragging actions. For most tested time intervals, the results of the reliability test showed that their intraclass correlation coefficients were higher than 0.95, with few less than 0.90 for those with relatively longer tested time intervals. Linear regression analyses indicated that the pointing device clicking action time intervals recorded by the Mlog monitoring program were very close to the reference values and not affected by CPU speed and memory capacity, computer system loadings of software programs in operation, or types of pointing device key action. In conclusion, the Mlog monitoring program was validated as an accurate tool for monitoring pointing device activity during computer work. Future study is warranted to examine the influences of idle time threshold for electronic activity monitoring, passive computer tasks, and job type on the performance of the program in field studies.

Relevance to industry

The Mlog monitoring program was validated as accurate in measuring pointing device activity during computer work, providing an indirect and supplemental exposure indices for those traditional ergonomic measurements for physical loading assessment.     

Attitudinal and experiential predictors of technological expertise

This study sought to clarify which computer and Internet skills and experiences differentiate technological expertise and to identify predictors of this expertise. Two hundred and fifty-eight incoming university students were surveyed on Internet and computer experiences, skills, and attitudes. Six specific Internet and computer uses that differentiate technological expertise were identified based on frequency of use. Males and those who own computers had greater technological expertise. Factor analyses identified two skill factors (Internet skills, Computer/Math skills), three experience factors (Internet, Computer, Recreational Use of Internet), five attitude factors (Importance of Internet and computer knowledge, Computer aversive, Internet and computer comfort/competency, Internet and computer overuse, Technology aversive). These factors as well as gender, computer ownership, and weekly computer and Internet use were entered as independent variables in a general linear model (GLM) which was then used to determine which factors affected technological expertise. The overall GLM was significant (R² = .414, F = 5.85, p < .001). Internet and computer skills and computer abuse were the strongest predictors of technological expertise. Weekly Internet use, Internet and computer comfort/competency also were predictors, and gender was almost significant (p = .056) as a predictor. Neither computer ownership nor other Internet and computer attitudes were significant predictors.     

Online shopping drivers and barriers for older adults: Age and gender differences

The use of the Internet by older adults is growing at a substantial rate. They are becoming an increasingly important potential market for electronic commerce. However, previous researchers and practitioners have focused mainly on the youth market and paid less attention to issues related to the online behaviors of older consumers. To bridge the gap, the purpose of this study is to increase a better understanding of the drivers and barriers affecting older consumers’ intention to shop online. To this end, this study is developed by integrating the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and innovation resistance theory. By comparing younger consumers with their older counterparts, in terms of gender the findings indicate that the major factors driving older adults toward online shopping are performance expectation and social influence which is the same with younger. On the other hand, the major barriers include value, risk, and tradition which is different from younger. Consequently, it is notable that older adults show no gender differences in regards to the drivers and barriers.     

Impact of computer training courses on reduction of loneliness of older people in Finland and Slovenia

Previous research has shown loneliness as a threat for the quality of life of older people; therefore the goal of the intervention in a quasi-experimental study was to evaluate and discuss the self-reported level of loneliness of older people in Finland and Slovenia before and after a computer intervention. Intervention in a quasi-experimental study was conducted among 58 older participants at the baseline (M = 72.4 years) and 45 older participants at the follow-up research study (M = 72.9 years). Inferential statistics showed a significant difference in the reduction of loneliness between the countries, and a decreased level of loneliness of older people after completing the computer training course. Although older people experience many age-related problems which may reduce their interest in learning information and communication technology (ICT) skills, it is important that they are computer-proficient, because computer engagement can reduce the level of loneliness of older people and in this way has a positive effect on their quality of life.