University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Little Brothers - Friends of the Elderly, San Francisco, CA, USA.
J Appl Gerontol. 2021 May;40(5):489-499. doi: 10.1177/0733464820910028. Epub 2020 Mar 6.
Technology has the potential to increase social connectedness among older adults, but one-third do not use the internet. We formed a community partnership, Tech Allies, providing tablets, broadband, and 1:1 training to isolated older adults. In a pragmatic pilot trial, participants were randomized into intervention ( = 44) and waitlist ( = 39) groups. Volunteers provided eight weekly, in-home iPad lessons. Surveys assessed self-reported loneliness, social support, technology use, and confidence at baseline and follow-up. A subgroup completed in-home interviews. The intervention group showed no change in loneliness, marginally significant improvement in social support and technology confidence, and significant increase in technology use. Among the waitlist group, no changes were observed. Interviews showed some participants felt more connected to the world, and many expressed increased technology confidence. Key implementation lessons on program feasibility are discussed. Embedding training within existing community-based programs holds promise as a potentially sustainable mechanism to provide digital training to older adults.
技术有可能增加老年人之间的社会联系，但有三分之一的老年人不使用互联网。我们成立了一个社区合作伙伴关系，即“技术盟友”，为孤立的老年人提供平板电脑、宽带和 1:1 的培训。在一项实用的试点试验中，参与者被随机分为干预组（=44）和候补组（=39）。志愿者每周提供八次上门 iPad 课程。调查在基线和随访时评估了自我报告的孤独感、社会支持、技术使用和信心。一个亚组完成了家庭访谈。干预组的孤独感没有变化，社会支持和技术信心略有改善，技术使用显著增加。候补组没有观察到变化。访谈显示，一些参与者感觉与世界的联系更紧密，许多人表示技术信心增强。讨论了有关计划可行性的关键实施经验教训。将培训嵌入现有的基于社区的计划中，有望成为为老年人提供数字培训的一种可持续机制。
