Current Findings and Issues in Technology and Aging
Published May 1, 2021 · S. Czaja
Journal of Applied Gerontology
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Abstract
Welcome to the Journal of Applied Gerontology special issue on aging and technology, a topic that is receiving increased attention given the intersection between population aging and the ubiquitous deployment of technology in all aspects of life, including work, education, health care, leisure, and everyday activities. Technology applications are also playing a key role in meeting the challenges of population aging by facilitating access to services, enhancing safety, providing support for ability declines, and enhancing opportunities for engagement. Furthermore, new forms of technology and technology applications are abounding, and many of these are aimed at supporting older adults. Just as technology is evolving, so is the landscape of technology and aging. For example, the emergence of new technologies and advances in artificial intelligence give rise to numerous issues regarding aging adults such as understanding how to best foster adoption and successful uptake of these technologies among diverse older adult populations and understanding the impact of use of technology on outcomes such as health, well-being, and quality of life. Other issues including concerns about privacy and cyber security are also emerging. In this special issue, we present a series of articles that address a number of issues such as technology adoption among aging adults, the impact of the use of technology on the health and well-being of older adults, measurement tools, and policy issues. As underscored by the variety in these articles, the landscape of aging and technology is broad, and thus the articles presented capture a broad lens. Clearly, for the potential of technology to be realized for older adults, it is essential to understand trends in technology adoption and factors influencing technology uptake among older individuals. These issues must be understood at the level of subpopulations, and examination of these topics must also include contextual and social factors. The article by Hyunwoo Yoon and colleagues presents some recent data regarding internet use among a large and diverse sample drawn from the California Health Interview Survey. Importantly, in addition to examining data from the entire sample, subgroup analyses were also performed. The findings indicated that overall, even though the percentage of older adults in the United States who use the internet has increased, there are still subgroups of older people such as those in the older cohorts, less educated, and of minority status for whom disparities in internet use still exist. As the authors point out, these data help prioritize individuals for technology training. In this regard, the findings by Arthanat underscore the importance of access to technology training. This article reports results from a study that examine the benefits of individualized Information and Communications Technology (ICT) training for older adults who made limited use of the internet. The findings showed that those who received the training engaged significantly more in a wide variety of internet activities than those in the control group. Furthermore, they also reported significant increases in technology acceptance. These findings dispute the notion that older adults are technophobic and instead demonstrate that if aging adults are provided with appropriate training, they are willing and able to use technology applications. The study by Felix and colleagues focuses on factors that influence the use of electronic health records (EHRs) in nursing home settings. Not surprisingly, the data, gathered from a survey administered to federally certified nursing homes in Arkansas (N = 223), indicated that the nursing homes with greater resources and in competitive markets were more likely to implement EHRs. Interestingly, comparison of the characteristics between the survey responders (~28%) and nonresponders indicated that the nursing homes that had staff with a higher skill mix were more likely to respond. These findings demonstrate the influence of contextual factors on technology uptake and similar to the findings from Yoon and colleagues demonstrate that technology implementation efforts must target underserved populations and organizations with limited resources. In this regard, Fields and colleagues’ study of in-home technology training included an ethnically diverse sample, many of whom had low education and low income levels. A novel aspect of their approach was the formation of a partnership with a volunteer organization that provides home visits for isolated and lonely older adults. Volunteers from the organization provided individualized in-home iPad lessons to isolated seniors. Overall, the results show the importance of providing aging adults with access to technology training programs. Although the participants who received training did not report a decrease in loneliness, there was a trend toward improvement in social support and a significant increase in technology use. The findings also highlight the potential of embedding technology training within community-based programs. As the authors note, successful implementation of 998579 JAGXXX10.1177/0733464821998579Journal of Applied GerontologyCzaja research-article2021