Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
GF Strong Rehabilitation Research Lab, Vancouver Coastal Research Institute, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Assist Technol. 2023 Jul 4;35(4):367-373. doi: 10.1080/10400435.2022.2113180. Epub 2022 Sep 12.
Despite the benefits of assistive technology (AT), barriers to technology adoption still exist and are uniquely affecting older populations. Improving technology adoption can be achieved by involving end-users in the development and evaluation process. However, existing AT evaluation tools rarely take into account older adults' experiences. The goal of this study was to fill this gap by determining which AT evaluation criteria are important for older adults. We conducted 4 nominal group meetings with 21 participants aged 50+ in Vancouver, Canada. In the meetings, participants generated AT evaluation criteria and organized them in the order of importance. The content from the meetings was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Final rankings were collated to reveal which criteria were the most important across the groups. We found that promotion of independence, affordability, ease of use and ethics are the most important AT evaluation criteria for older adults. Some aspects of ATs that older adults value, such as reliability, are not featured in AT evaluation tools. This study provides insight into older adults' priorities for AT evaluation criteria, and concerns that older adults have about AT use. The findings are supplemented with a comprehensive analysis of the group discussions that contextualizes the criteria.
尽管辅助技术 (AT) 有很多好处，但技术采用的障碍仍然存在，而且这些障碍对老年人的影响尤为明显。通过让最终用户参与到开发和评估过程中，可以提高技术的采用率。然而，现有的 AT 评估工具很少考虑到老年人的体验。本研究旨在通过确定对老年人重要的 AT 评估标准来填补这一空白。我们在加拿大温哥华进行了 4 次名义小组会议，共有 21 名 50 岁以上的参与者参加。在会议中，参与者提出了 AT 评估标准，并按照重要性对其进行了组织。使用定性内容分析对会议内容进行了分析。最终排名的整理结果显示了哪些标准在各个小组中是最重要的。我们发现，促进独立性、可负担性、易用性和道德规范是老年人最重要的 AT 评估标准。老年人重视的 AT 某些方面，如可靠性，并没有出现在 AT 评估工具中。本研究深入了解了老年人对 AT 评估标准的重视程度以及他们对 AT 使用的担忧。该研究结果还结合了对小组讨论的全面分析，从而使这些标准更加具体。
