Successful Aging for Community-Dwelling Older Adults: An Experimental Study with a Tablet App

Beenish Moalla Chaudhry, Dipanwita Dasgupta and Nitesh V. Chawla ()
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Beenish Moalla Chaudhry: School of Computing and Informatics, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 104 E. University Circle, Lafayette, LA 70501, USA
Dipanwita Dasgupta: Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, IN 46656, USA
Nitesh V. Chawla: Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, IN 46656, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 20, 1-28

Abstract: Mobile health (mHealth) technologies offer an opportunity to enable the care and support of community-dwelling older adults, however, research examining the use of mHealth in delivering quality of life (QoL) improvements in the older population is limited. We developed a tablet application (eSeniorCare) based on the Successful Aging framework and investigated its feasibility among older adults with low socioeconomic status. Twenty five participants (females = 14, mean age = 65 years) used the app to set and track medication intake reminders and health goals, and to play selected casual mobile games for 24 weeks. The Older person QoL and Short Health (SF12v2) surveys were administered before and after the study. The Wilcoxon rank tests were used to determine differences from baseline, and thematic analysis was used to analyze post-study interview data. The improvements in health-related QoL (HRQoL) scores were statistically significant ( V = 41.5 , p = 0.005856 ) across all participants. The frequent eSeniorCare users experienced statistically significant improvements in their physical health ( V = 13 , p = 0.04546 ) and HRQoL ( V = 7.5 , p = 0.0050307 ) scores. Participants reported that the eSeniorCare app motivated timely medication intake and health goals achievement, whereas tablet games promoted mental stimulation. Participants were willing to use mobile apps to self-manage their medications (70%) and adopt healthy activities (72%), while 92% wanted to recommend eSeniorCare to a friend. This study shows the feasibility and possible impact of an mHealth tool on the health-related QoL in older adults with a low socioeconomic status. mHealth support tools and future research to determine their effects are warranted for this population.

Keywords: older adults; goal-oriented care; connected health; mobile application; human-centered design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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