Center for Human Factors Engineering of Health Information Technology, Department of Medical Informatics, The Netherlands; Academic Medical Center, Department of Medical Informatics, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Center for Human Factors Engineering of Health Information Technology, Department of Medical Informatics, The Netherlands; Academic Medical Center, Department of Medical Informatics, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Int J Med Inform. 2018 Jun;114:66-75. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2018.03.012. Epub 2018 Mar 27.
With the growing population of older adults as a potential user group of mHealth, the need increases for mHealth interventions to address specific aging characteristics of older adults. The existence of aging barriers to computer use is widely acknowledged. Yet, usability studies show that mHealth still fails to be appropriately designed for older adults and their expectations. To enhance designs of mHealth aimed at older adult populations, it is essential to gain insight into aging barriers that impact the usability of mHealth as experienced by these adults.
This study aims to synthesize literature on aging barriers to digital (health) computer use, and explain, map and visualize these barriers in relation to the usability of mHealth by means of a framework.
We performed a scoping review to synthesize and summarize reported physical and functional age barriers in relation to digital (mobile) health applications use. Aging barriers reported in the literature were mapped onto usability aspects categorized by Nielsen to explain their influence on user experience of mHealth. A framework (MOLD-US) was developed summarizing the evidence on the influence of aging barriers on mHealth use experienced by older adults.
Four key categories of aging barriers influencing usability of mHealth were identified: cognition, motivation, physical ability and perception. Effective and satisfactory use of mHealth by older adults is complicated by cognition and motivation barriers. Physical ability and perceptual barriers further increase the risk of user errors and fail to notice important interaction tasks. Complexities of medical conditions, such as diminished eye sight related to diabetes or deteriorated motor skills as a result of rheumatism, can cause errors in user interaction.
This research provides a novel framework for the exploration of aging barriers and their causes influencing mHealth usability in older adults. This framework allows for further systematic empirical testing and analysis of mHealth usability issues, as it enables results to be classified and interpreted based on impediments intrinsic to usability issues experienced by older adults. Importantly, the paper identifies a key need for future research on motivational barriers impeding mhealth use of older adults. More insights are needed in particular to disaggregating normal age related functional changes from specific medical conditions that influence experienced usefulness of mHealth by these adults.
随着老年人群体作为移动健康（mHealth）的潜在用户群体不断增加，需要针对老年人的特定老龄化特征来开发 mHealth 干预措施。人们普遍认识到，老年人在使用计算机方面存在障碍。然而，可用性研究表明，mHealth 仍然没有为老年人及其期望进行适当的设计。为了增强针对老年人群体的 mHealth 设计，必须深入了解影响这些成年人使用 mHealth 的可用性的老龄化障碍。
本研究旨在综合文献中有关数字（健康）计算机使用的老龄化障碍，并通过框架解释、映射和可视化这些障碍与 mHealth 的可用性之间的关系。
我们进行了范围综述，以综合和总结文献中报告的与数字（移动）健康应用程序使用相关的身体和功能年龄障碍。将文献中报告的老龄化障碍映射到尼尔森分类的可用性方面，以解释它们对 mHealth 用户体验的影响。开发了一个框架（MOLD-US），总结了老龄化障碍对老年人使用 mHealth 的影响的证据。
确定了影响 mHealth 可用性的四个关键老龄化障碍类别：认知、动机、身体能力和感知。认知和动机障碍使老年人有效和满意地使用 mHealth 变得复杂。身体能力和感知障碍进一步增加了用户出错的风险，并且无法注意到重要的交互任务。医疗条件的复杂性，例如与糖尿病相关的视力下降或风湿性关节炎导致的运动技能恶化，可能导致用户交互错误。
本研究为探索影响老年人 mHealth 可用性的老龄化障碍及其原因提供了一个新的框架。该框架允许进一步对 mHealth 可用性问题进行系统的实证测试和分析，因为它可以根据老年人体验到的可用性问题的内在障碍对结果进行分类和解释。重要的是，本文确定了未来研究阻碍老年人使用 mHealth 的动机障碍的关键需求。特别是需要更多的见解来区分影响这些成年人体验到的 mHealth 有用性的正常年龄相关功能变化和特定的医疗状况。
