A Study of ICT Acceptance Among Seniors with Fall Risk Assessment Technologies as a Case

The proportional number of elderly citizens is increasing in many parts of the world, and the need for healthcare ICT solutions that allow them to live independently in the community is equally increasing. It is important to tailor these solutions to this age group, in order to achieve a high degree of acceptance among the end users. To do this, we need to have a thorough understanding of how and why seniors use (or do not use) these technologies. This master s thesis aimed to gather knowledge about how best to assess acceptance of an ICT system for community-dwelling seniors, and to evaluate this assessment method in a case involving a fall risk assessment system. The first phase of the project consisted of a systematic literature review, aiming to find and present the findings from previous research relating to acceptance of health-related ICT among community-dwelling seniors. This involved analysing 11 review articles and 31 qualitative, primary research articles. The UTAUT2 acceptance model was used to structure the findings. The review found that some of the important factors for ICT acceptance among elderly include independence, safety and security, socialization, self-management of their health, getting help using the service, and tailored training. Some of the reported barriers to acceptance are lack of privacy, poor interaction design, obtrusiveness, and social stigma. These findings were then mapped to the constructs and moderating conditions in the UTAUT2 model, and a methodological tool for conducting theoretical evaluations of the acceptance of an ICT solution for elderly was created based on this mapping. The study also found that more research is needed in order to develop a specialized and operationalized acceptance model for ICT use among seniors. The mapping of the findings to UTAUT2 is a step in this direction, and suggests some improvements to this model. Next, a set of concepts and a prototype of a front-end web solution was developed. This work was tied to a research project titled Adapt, regarding fall risk assessment for seniors. The acceptance of each of the concepts and the prototype were then theoretically evaluated using the evaluation tool created from the literature review. This demonstrated how the evaluation tool can be used in a real-world ICT project in order to assess which solution has the highest predicted acceptance. This could be a useful tool for healthcare service providers and others interested in finding the solution with highest acceptance when seniors should use a health-related ICT system

Acceptance of Health-Related ICT among Elderly People Living in the Community: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Evidence

There are a growing number of seniors and a growing need for health-related ICT (Information and Communication Technology) solutions to allow seniors live independently in their own homes and communities. We need to have a better understanding of how and why seniors use or do not use health-related ICT in such settings so we can improve our solutions. In order to synthesise existing knowledge we did a systematic literature review using Scopus and PubMed. We searched for both review articles and primary qualitative studies. 11 review articles and 31 primary research articles were included in the study. We structured our findings using the UTAUT2 acceptance model developed by Venkatesh et al. Our findings show that seniors want health-related ICT that gives them independence, safety and security, allows them to socialize, manage their own health, and helps them in their daily activities. They need to easily get help if they have problems using services, get tailored training and help during use. Lack of privacy and safety, and stigma are some of the reported barriers. Health-related ICT at home is different than both consumer and institutional ICT. We need more research in order to develop a specialized and operationalized acceptance model for health-related ICT use among seniors. Our mapping to UTAUT2 is a step in this direction, and suggests a possible specialization of this model.acceptedVersio