Understanding Why Older Adults With Type 2 Diabetes Join Diabetes Online Communities: Semantic Network Analyses.

BackgroundAs individuals age, chronic health difficulties may disrupt physical and social well-being. Individuals can turn to online communities to interact with similar peers, which may help buffer negative effects resulting from health difficulties.ObjectiveThis study investigated the reasons that older adults join a diabetes online community to better understand the specific resources that are being sought.MethodsWe used semantic network analyses to categorize the reasons participants provided for joining a community during the sign-up process.ResultsThe most frequent reasons for joining were to seek information about their health condition, to help with self-management of health difficulties, for feelings of informational and social support, and for having a community with whom to share. Women were more likely to go online for sharing and companionship as well as for information and social support reasons, whereas men were more likely to go online for general information and self-management reasons.ConclusionsThis study shows the reasons older adults seek to join a diabetes online community: for increased information and support regarding chronic health difficulties. Practitioners may want to consider ways to promote access to online communities among their older patients as a source of health information and a resource to provide a sense of community

Development and validation of the Scale of Motives for Using Social Networking Sites (SMU-SNS) for adolescents and youths

Over the past decade, the Uses and Gratifications theory has driven research on the motives behind social media use. The three most commonly explored motives have been: maintaining relationships, seeking information, and entertainment. The aim of this study was to develop and validate the Scale of Motives for Using Social Networking Sites (SMU-SNS), a measure to assess a wider range of motives for using Social Networking Sites than have previously been researched. A multi-method design with different samples of high-school and university students was used. First, to develop the pool of items, a literature review and a focus group study (n = 48, age range = 16–21) was conducted. Second, to reduce and refine the pool of items a pilot study (n = 168, age range = 14–24) was performed. Third, a validation study (n = 1102, age range = 13–25) was conducted to assess the validity and reliability of the SMU-SNS. Cross-validation using EFA and CFA resulted in a final version comprising 27 items distributed in nine factors (Dating, New Friendships, Academic Purposes, Social Connectedness, Following and Monitoring Others, Entertainment, seeking Social Recognition, Self-expression, and seeking Information). Internal consistency was excellent and evidence of measurement invariance across gender and age was largely achieved. The SMU-SNS scores significantly correlated with other relevant variables, including age, gender, certain personality traits, social support, loneliness, and life satisfaction. Overall, findings supported the SMU-SNS as a valid and reliable measure to assess youth’s motives for using Social Networking Sites. Psychometric and general implications are discussed.Ministerio de Economía y CompetitividadMinisterio de Educación y Formación Profesiona

Using Online Social Networking to Enhance Social Connectedness and Social Support for the Elderly

Social integration is crucial for the overall well-being of the elderly who are more prone to social exclusion because of the natural aging process. We propose online social networking as means to enhance social connectedness and social support – two aspects of social networks that have significant implications for the well-being of elderly. While prior research investigating the benefits of online social networking has primarily focused on user groups such as teenagers and college students, there is less understanding on how online social networks can be used to support and strengthen social ties among elderly. This study intends to investigate means of increasing social connectedness and social support among elderly through participation in online social networks, and the resulting implications on overall satisfaction with life. Our aim is to identify features of online social networks that cater to the specific social connectedness and support related requirements of elderly users

The digital age project: strategies that enable older social housing residents to use the internet

Provides insights into the factors affecting technology adoption for older and disadvantaged people, and provides training and interface guidelines and a potential model for other public housing communities to become more digitally aware. Research Aims The experience of social housing communities in countries like the United Kingdom suggests that while access to digital infrastructure and equipment is important, access alone does not equate to digital inclusion. The aim of this research was two-fold, namely to: Understand the impact of access to and use of the internet, within a community of potentially vulnerable consumers; and, Determine the strategies that may assist people living in public housing communities to become more digitally aware and enable them to take advantage of online services such as health, government, news, shopping and methods of online communication. The research also sought to determine what benefits may flow from information technology skills to perceptions of social connectedness, self-efficacy, resilience, health and well-being. Given that people with low levels of computer literacy typically face greater risk of cognitive overload in attempting to learn new technologies, the principles and guidelines from Cognitive Load Theory were applied to training materials and activities to minimise cognitive load and thereby facilitate learning. The research was designed with a view to providing important insights into the factors affecting technology adoption for older and disadvantaged people, as well as providing training and interface guidelines and a potential model for other public housing communities to become more digitally aware

How do older adults communicate with the UK public sector? : Comparing online communication channels

Copyright and all rights therein are retained by the authors. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and conditions invoked by each author's copyright. These works may not be re-posted without the explicit permission of the copyright holdersGovernments around the world are moving away from conventional ways of face to face communication to a more digital approach when delivering services to their citizens. This includes using the internet as both a communication tool and an information source to improve efficiency in their services. However, not all the citizens are making use of these changes, especially the older adults. Therefore, this research-in-progress paper aims to investigate and identify the factors that encourage older adults to continue using a particular communication channel when interacting with the government. In addition, future directions, limitations and conclusions are also provided within this paper. The implication of this study to academia is viewed to be the development of an extended framework that allows an understanding of continuance intention of online communication tools usage. Equally, this framework will benefit industry by informing providers of communication channels to the government to be aware of the factors that influence older adults’ choices when interacting with the government. For policymakers this research will identify the communication channels that promote interaction with citizensFinal Published versio

HEALTHY, ACTIVE AND CONNECTED: TOWARDS DESIGNING AN AGE-FRIENDLY DIGITAL NEIGHBORHOOD PLATFORM

Due to declining fertility rates and rising life expectancy, the world’s population is ageing at an unprecedented pace. This demographic change is expected to exert pressure on social security as well as healthcare systems and poses the risk of social exclusion of the elderly. As urban areas are home to the majority of the global elderly population, they are disproportionately affected by this development. Cities have begun responding with strategies ranging from policy and regulation reform to investments in innovative healthcare technologies with the goal of becoming “age-friendly”. Enabling the elderly to live a socially active, healthy and self-determined lifestyle past retirement are among the prime objectives for alleviating the challenges of an ageing society. With increasing urbanization, human, technological and infrastructural resources of urban contexts or neighborhoods have presented themselves as important determinants of elderly well-being. We propose that an age-friendly digital neighborhood platform can activate and leverage these re-sources to the benefit of the elderly population, contributing to the mitigation of the challenges of an ageing society. Following a design science research approach, we develop design principles for such an age-friendly digital neighborhood platform and evaluate a prototypical instantiation in two case neighborhoods in a German metropolitan area

The imperial war museum’s social interpretation project

This report represents the output from research undertaken by University of Salford and MTM London as part of the joint Digital R&D Fund for Arts and Culture, operated by Nesta, Arts Council England and the AHRC. University of Salford and MTM London received funding from the programme to act as researchers on the Social Interpretation (SI) project, which was led by the Imperial War Museum (IWM) and their technical partners, The Centre for Digital Humanities, University College London, Knowledge Integration, and Gooii. The project was carried out between October 2011 and October 2012

Playing in a virtual bedroom: youth leisure in the Facebook generation

The rapidly changing uses of online social networking sites (SNS) have led to moral panics, most notably framed in terms of 'stranger danger'. However, the risks to young people from access to un-mediated content available via SNS, and most particularly to user-generated content is not generally seen as being dangerous. However, adults would not generally consider many of the activities engaged in via SNS as safe were they conducted in the real world. This paper explores the ways in which young people use SNS to mediate complex issues of social identity in a virtual environment