Toward digital inclusion of older adults in e-health: a case study on support for physical activity
2023 (English)In: Universal Access in the Information Society, ISSN 1615-5289, E-ISSN 1615-5297Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]
Older adults are a heterogeneous population for which many e-health innovations are inaccessible. Involving older adults in user-centered design (UCD) with a specific focus on inclusive design is important to make e-health more accessible to this user group. This case study aimed to explore the feasibility of a new UCD approach aiming to minimize bias in the design phase of a digital support for older adults’ physical activity (PA). The study used mixed methods and applied UCD principles in a four-iteration design phase followed by an evaluation phase where 11 and 15 older adults participated, respectively. The users’ gender, PA level and technology experience (TE) were considered in recruitment, data analysis and prioritization of improvement efforts. In the design phase, users with different gender, PA level and TE participated and contributed with feedback, which was prioritized in the development. The adaptation included improving readability, simplifying layout and features, clarifying structure, and making the digital content more inclusive and relevant. The evaluation showed that the users had a positive experience of the prototype and could use it with some help. The study demonstrated that adopting e-health to assure digital inclusion among older adults must address several aspects. The UCD approach was feasible for amending user bias and for confirming that users of both genders and with varied PA- and TE level shaped the design. However, evaluation of the method with larger samples is needed. Moreover, further research on methods to involve digitally excluded populations in UCD is needed.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH , 2023.
Keywords [en]
Digital technology, Equity, Gender, Older adults, User representation, eHealth, Iterative methods, Design phase, Digital inclusion, Digital technologies, E health, Physical activity, User centered design
National Category
Information Systems, Social aspects
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:mdh:diva-64608DOI: 10.1007/s10209-023-01049-zISI: 001084310700001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85173990264OAI: oai:DiVA.org:mdh-64608DiVA, id: diva2:1807627
2023-10-272023-10-272023-11-01Bibliographically approved