An IT Model to engage elderly people to the community

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.Many countries around the world are experiencing an aging population issue. It is predicted to have a negative impact on the economy, health and social security system. As a result, it requires a solution that reduces the economic burden and the impact on the health care system by increasing productivity and promoting mental and physical health. Many solutions utilise the benefits of social networks or service networks. However, those solutions typically fail on the following measures: 1) they are ineffective in allowing elderly people to act as value contributors, 2) they do not provide enough benefits to older users. The goals of this thesis are to overcome these challenges by demonstrating the feasibility of how social network and service network can be integrated to provide benefits for elderly people. It also reveals the design and implementation of the engaging factors for online platforms to engage their users. Finally, it validates and evaluates the performance of the platform by collecting and analysing data after trial. To achieve the above goals, this study investigates the possibilities and designs the necessary features of social network and service network to engage elderly people in the community. It also investigates and designs the engaging factors that can be adopted to engage users on an online platform. The result of the collected data indicates that the platform has a positive effect on its users' financial and social well-being. The respondents indicated that it has the potential to improve their social relationships, increase their productivity and income. However, privacy and security remain the main concerns for some users. The contribution of this thesis includes the integration of social network and service network with the novelty of the architecture where the integration of the two platforms can cover the shortfalls and assist each other to bring the maximum benefits. Another contribution is the methods to engage users on the platform with the novelty of interpreting and converting the factors that engage users in volunteering activity to technical implementation. It shows the possibilities of using these factors for future development on different online platforms. Ultimately, the findings will have an impact on future directions for addressing the aging population. It opens the potential of using elderly people as a resource to provide benefit for both elderly people, the society, and the community using a platform that utilises the social network, service network with the engaging factors

Toward an Active Aging Society: An IT Model to Engage the Aging Population

© 2019 IEEE. Many countries around the world are expecting a growing number of elderly people as the society is aging over time. This shift is expected to create a large impact on the health and social security system. The cost of having an increasing proportion of elderly people is emerging as a challenge for governments, so much that many countries are encouraging their people to stay in the workforce longer. As a result, the aging population requires a solution that allows them to remain productive and keeping them mentally healthy. Existing solutions rely on the benefits of social networks or service networks to keep them active and improve mental health. However, these solutions fail to allow elderly people to act as a value contributor for the society. This paper proposes the design of a new model that allows elderly people to actively and collaboratively provide value to the society through an assistive platform that integrates a service network with a social network. This model combines the advantages of the social network to connect them and utilize the advantages of the service network to create opportunities for elderly people to offer their skills and knowledge to exchange benefits with other users. The proposed model can be used as a mean to engage seniors to the community, allowing them to generate value for themselves and the community while staying mentally healthy

An assistive healthcare platform for both social and service networking for engaging elderly people

© 2017 University of Western Australia. Most countries around the globe are facing the same issue - an aging population. As an individual move from their working life to a retirement life, multiple socio-economic issues can occur as their social life has also significantly changed. This shift often affects an individual's mental health and well-being. As a result, the aging population requires a solution that does reduce not only its impact on the government but also harvests its contribution to the society. Existing solutions are based on utilizing online platforms such as social network or service network as a medium to reduce social isolation and improve the mental health of elderly people. However, these solutions fail on two accounts: 1) they fail to see older people as active contributors and 2) older people do not see the needs or benefits of using them. This paper proposes a solution that addresses those two issues by engaging people actively and collaboratively as contributors of services and/or receivers of social benefits through an assistive platform that integrates a service network with a social network. This model combines the advantages of both platforms, offers many opportunities for seniors to not only utilize their skills and knowledge to exchange benefits with other users but also expand their social life. The proposed model can be used as a mean to engage older adults to the community, making them become more active, improve their mental well-being and subsequently reduce the cost of health services to the society