Older Adults and Diffusion of Assistive Web-Base Technologies

TLDR: Critical factors that need to be considered when adopting this new assistive technology to improve older adults' interaction with online forms are identified, drawing on Rogers's theory of Diffusion of Innovations.

Abstract: Recent surveys show that the number of people over the age of 65 is increasing worldwide and there is a considerable discussion about the scope of improving the older adults' autonomy and independence, using recent developments in information technology. One of such development is web services and it is rapidly becoming a major means of accessing healthcare in the community and many government services for the older adults. However several researchers argue that age-related cognitive impairments have a detrimental effect on use of such web services by older adults. However, little and systematic applied research has been conducted on how age related cognitive impairments might affect the usage of web services by older adults. Undoubtedly, understanding the relationship between the cognitive changes that accompany aging and their impact on older adults' usage of web services will be beneficial for designing web services for this group. The article demonstrates how such understanding has been employed to develop an assistive technology to improve older adults' interaction with online forms e.g. state benefit application form. However, the article acknowledges that this new assistive technology does not guarantee that people with age-related cognitive impairments accept it, as diffusion of innovation research shows that getting a new technology adopted, even when it has noticeable advantage, is often very difficult. Consequently, the article identifies critical factors that need to be considered when adopting this new assistive technology, drawing on Rogers's theory of Diffusion of Innovations.