Uses and Attitudes of Old and Oldest Adults towards Self-Monitoring Health Systems

Oldest adults (80 years and over) are the fastest growing group in
the total world population. This is putting pressure on national
healthcare budgets, as the distribution of healthcare expenses is
strongly age-dependent. One way of mitigating this burden may
be to let older adults contribute to their own health directly by
using self-management health systems (SMHS). SMHS might help
older, including oldest, adults gain insight into their health status,
and invite them to take action. However, while many studies report
on user evaluations of older adults with one specific sensor
system, fewer studies report on older adults’ uses and attitudes
towards integrated SMHS. Moreover, most studies include participants
with mean ages of 65 rather than 80. In this paper, we report
on a qualitative study, consisting of a focus group interview and
a user evaluation of an SMHS by 12 participants with a median
age of 85 years. Three main findings were derived: Older adults (1)
showed heterogeneity in computer skills, (2) found health technologies
useful for others – not yet for themselves, and (3) perceived
health technologies as a threat to social interaction. These findings
suggest that health technologies are not ready for adoption by older
adults yet, and further research on making them more accessible
and desirable is required.