Department of Industrial Engineering & Management, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
Int J Med Inform. 2013 Nov;82(11):e209-31. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2011.03.002. Epub 2011 Apr 11.
The proportion of older adults in the population is steadily increasing, causing healthcare costs to rise dramatically. This situation calls for the implementation of health-related information and communication technologies (ICT) to assist in providing more cost-effective healthcare to the elderly. In order for such a measure to succeed, older adults must be prepared to adopt these technologies. Prior research shows, however, that this population lags behind in ICT adoption, although some believe that this is a temporary phenomenon that will soon change.
To assess use by older adults of technology in general and ICT in particular, in order to evaluate their readiness to adopt health-related ICT.
We employed the questionnaire used by Selwyn et al. in 2000 in the UK, as well as a survey instrument used by Morris and Venkatesh, to examine the validity of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in the context of computer use by older employees. 123 respondents answered the questions via face-to-face interviews, 63 from the US and 60 from Israel. SPSS 17.0 was used for the data analysis.
The results show that although there has been some increase in adoption of modern technologies, including ICT, most of the barriers found by Selwyn et al. are still valid. ICT use was determined by accessibility of computers and support and by age, marital status, education, and health. Health, however, was found to moderate the effect of age, healthier older people being far more likely to use computers than their unhealthy coevals. The TPB was only partially supported, since only perceived behavioral control (PBC) emerged as significantly affecting intention to use a computer, while age, contrary to the findings of Morris and Venkatesh, interacted differently for Americans and Israelis. The main reason for non-use was 'no interest' or 'no need', similar to findings from data collected in 2000.
Adoption of technology by older adults is still limited, though it has increased as compared with results of the previous study. Modern technologies have been adopted (albeit selectively) by older users, who were presumably strongly motivated by perceived usefulness. Particularly worrying are the effects of health, PBC, and the fact that many older adults do not share the perception that ICT can significantly improve their quality of life. We therefore maintain that older adults are not yet ready to adopt health-related ICT. Health-related ICT for the elderly should be kept simple and demonstrate substantial benefits, and special attention should be paid to training and support and to specific personal and cultural characteristics. These are mandatory conditions for adoption by potential unhealthy and older consumers.
人口中老年人的比例稳步增加，导致医疗保健成本大幅上升。这种情况需要实施与健康相关的信息和通信技术（ICT），以帮助为老年人提供更具成本效益的医疗保健。为了使这一措施取得成功，老年人必须准备采用这些技术。然而，先前的研究表明，尽管有些人认为这只是一个暂时的现象，很快就会改变，但这一人群在采用信息通信技术方面滞后。
评估老年人对一般技术和特定 ICT 的使用情况，以评估他们采用与健康相关的 ICT 的准备情况。
我们使用了 Selwyn 等人在 2000 年在英国使用的问卷，以及 Morris 和 Venkatesh 使用的调查工具，研究了理论计划行为（TPB）在老年员工计算机使用背景下的有效性。123 名受访者通过面对面访谈回答了问题，其中 63 名来自美国，60 名来自以色列。SPSS 17.0 用于数据分析。
结果表明，尽管包括 ICT 在内的现代技术的采用有所增加，但 Selwyn 等人发现的大多数障碍仍然有效。ICT 的使用取决于计算机的可及性和支持，以及年龄、婚姻状况、教育程度和健康状况。然而，健康状况被发现调节了年龄的影响，健康状况较好的老年人比他们身体不健康的同龄人更有可能使用计算机。TPB 仅得到部分支持，因为只有感知行为控制（PBC）被确定为显著影响使用计算机的意图，而年龄与 Morris 和 Venkatesh 的发现相反，对美国人和以色列人有不同的影响。不使用的主要原因是“不感兴趣”或“不需要”，类似于 2000 年收集的数据的发现。
尽管与之前的研究相比，老年人对技术的采用有所增加，但仍受到限制。现代技术已被老年用户采用（尽管是选择性的），他们显然是由感知有用性强烈驱动的。特别令人担忧的是健康、PBC 的影响，以及许多老年人并不认为信息通信技术可以显著提高他们的生活质量的事实。因此，我们认为老年人还没有准备好采用与健康相关的 ICT。老年人的健康相关 ICT 应该保持简单，并展示显著的好处，并且应该特别注意培训和支持以及特定的个人和文化特征。这些是潜在不健康和老年消费者采用的强制性条件。
