Assistive Technology and Older People

After spending this semester discussing how different types of technology effect elderlies and their aging process, I am going to spend this last blog discussing future concerns and measures about technology. Being in this current technology savvy era, the rates of assistive technology in homes will increase and become more prevalent. One of the main priorities that researchers need to focus on is how to make assistive technology more affordable during a time in which the economy is slow and technology is needed more frequently. According to an article called "Designing technology with older people," the authors discuss how we need to focus on including the needs of older people when designing future technology, because by the year 2020 older people will take up the largest portion of our population (2007). No longer should we follow the research strategies that we implement on younger groups of people such as generalizing and assuming characteristic traits. Instead, researchers need to also implement detailed studies into individual's lives, needs and behaviors in order to find out more information about differing norms in different groups. This way we will be able to avoid neglecting certain groups that may have what is considered rare behavior or different from the society norms. Both in the "Designing technology with older people" and "Older adults' needs for assistance as a function of living environment" articles, discuss the importance of designing technology to be human-centered and ensuring that there is actual physical human participation even with the heavy use of assistive technology in homes today.  Another major concern that is raised in "Quality of life technology for older adults and persons with disabilities: preferences and concerns for development" that researchers have raised also was the level of privacy that should still be maintained in the lives of older adults (2008). With the heavy use of assistive technology comes the need to constantly monitor the changes and personal behaviors of these older adults, some people have raised concerns that this can serve as an invasion of privacy that they do not wish to have occur. However, I believe this is a concern that elderlies will learn to come to terms with, because it is a necessity in doing proper research for the future.

Resources


Dewsbury, G., Rouncefield, M., Sommerville, I., Onditi, V., & Bagnall, P. (2007). Designing technology with older people [Electronic version]. Universal Access in the Information Society, 6(2), 207-217. Retrieved on 21 April 2012 from SpringerLink database.

Matthews, J., Beach, S., Downs, J., Bruine de Bruin, W., Mecca, L., Argueta, J., & Schulz, R. (2008). Quality of life technology for older adults and persons with disabilities: preferences and concerns for development [Electronic version]. The Gerontologist, 48, 188. Retrieved on 21 April 2012 from ProQuest database.

Mitzner, T., Kemp, C., Chen, T., & Rogers, W. (2011). Older adults' needs for assistance as a function of living environment [Electronic version]. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 55(1), 152-156. Retrieved on 21 April 2012 from SAGE Journals database.

Alzheimer's Disease and Technology

According to our lectures and readings, we've discussed how older people are more at risk for mental illnesses due to stressful life events. However, there are also discussions saying that specific illnesses and diseases cannot be attributed to certain ages. But according to Kathryn Gregory's article, doctors do agree that even though they have not been able to find the causes for Alzheimer's disease there is a definite correlation with old age and this disease (2009). When it comes to diseases such as Alzheimer's disease it is very important to reflect on the technology that is being utilized to make breakthroughs in discovering cures and ways of prevention. In the same article, it discusses how priorities are being placed on creating preventative measures first rather than finding the cure immediately. Since studies on Alzheimer's were only started in the 1970s, there has only been about forty years worth of recorded studies. In a science perspective, they haven't even begun to scratch the surface of understanding the disease and finding a cure, which the article even jokes is like utilizing "Star Trek technology" (2009).  It is so far off in the future, that it doesn't even seem possible with the technology that we currently have. I believe that this is a very good way of approaching the problem. It is a form of admittance and understanding that Alzheimer's will evolve to become a very serious problem in the near future, affecting almost half the population, and containing the current affected cases and planning for the future. Even though there is an understanding that there is still a long ways to go for technology to be capable of competing with the force and speed that Alzheimer's is attacking the people with, scientists and researchers have not neglected this. In 2005, it was reported that a patent has been issued for a piece of blood testing technology that hopes to detect Alzheimer's disease in its early stages. It is designed to be distributed annually to patients that are over 65 years of age. However, it has not been fully placed on the market due to economic and scientific factors such as accuracy and cost of the technology. In a recent article that came out this month, OPKO Health, Inc. has announced that they have created a piece of technology that is capable of detecting biomarkers for a myriad of diseases that also include Alzheimer's biomarkers. It avoids the highly invasive style that previous diagnosis tools have taken and increases the level of accuracy. We always say that we're in a very technology reliant age for good and for bad. When it comes to disease detection, prevention, and curing, technology is highly beneficial and unavoidable.

References


(2012, April 3). OPKO Health announces license agreement for OPKO's Alzheimer's diagnostic technology [Electronic version]. Business Wire. Retrieved on 21 April 2012 from Factiva database.

(2005, April 10). Patent issued for Alzheimer's blood test technology [Electronic version]. Preventive Medicine Week, 14. Retrieved on 21 April 2012 from LexisNexis Academic database.

Gregory, K. (2009, November 20). Alzheimer's disease: prevention preferred over treatment 'Star Trek' technology for cure a long way off, top researcher says [Electronic version]. Charleston Gazette. Retrieved on 21 April 2012 from Factiva database.

The Elderlies that Embrace Technology

In the past, research consistently reflects that older adults have negative attitudes towards the use and adoption of technology. In the first blog entry I wrote, I discussed why elderlies really fear technology  that it could possibly be because there's a lack of human emotion and touch behind it. However, more research shows that this fear may not be as prevalent as the public believes. For example, in Older adults talk technology: Technology usage and attitudes, the authors conducted an experiment with focus groups that revealed that there are more positive attitudes towards technology than what previous research has shown. This discovery reveals that elderlies are beginning to understand the convenience and usefulness of this technology and the elderly population as a whole is shedding this prior negative attitude. This creates an outlet of technology acceptance that leads to a brighter future for technology in the lives of elderlies. What was even more surprising about this information was that an article by Venard stated that the over-50 age group is the fastest growing sector of technology consumers (2011). With this recognition that older adults are more willing to embrace technology, I believe that they need to utilize not just the physical technological objects such as computers, cellular phones, tablets, etc. but also the services that technology brings. In the article, Center for Technology and Aging Expert Panel Identifies How Older Americans Can Use Technology to Enhance Social Action, the author voices how older adults need to use technology to explore services such as social media platforms to spread important social messages. Older adults are very active in the political world; however, during a time in which even the political world is moving towards high use of social media platforms, they run the risk of falling behind once more. For example, Obama's campaign with heavy usage of viral video and social media platforms, such as Twitter, was geared to invoking the attention of the younger, less politically active generation. This innovative type of technology garnered worldwide attention, but at the same time it alienated the older generation. The lectures constantly remind us the importance of bridging the generational gaps and reinforcing intergenerational relations. By having elderlies embrace the social services of technology, it will create a link of understanding and communication between older adults and the younger generations.

Resources


(2010, June 3). Center for Technology and Aging Expert Panel Identifies How Older Americans Can Use Technology to Enhance Social Action [Electronic version]. Internet Wire. Retrieved on 25 March 2012 from Business & Company Resource Center. 


Mitzner, T., Boron, J., Fausset, C., Adams, E., Charness, N., Czaja, S., Dijkstra, K., Fisk, A., Rogers, W., & Sharit, J. (2010). Older adults talk technology: technology usage and attitudes [Electronic version]. Computers in Human Behavior, 26 (6), 1710-1721. Retrieved on 24 March 2012 from SciVerse database.

Venard, L. (2011, October 8). They're older and tech-savvy: embracing technology - and loving it [Electronic version]. Newsday. Retrieved on 25 March 2012 from LexisNexis Academic database.

Technological Learning Environment for the Elderlies

In our lectures about education during aging, we were taught that to foster a good environment for older people that are willing to learn there should be a slower paced and supportive environment that emphasizes visuals and audio learning. However, after I wanted to gather more information on how elderly adults learn to utilize technology. When I read this article, I started understanding that it may not just be about the environment these older people need to be placed in (2012). Instead, we should also focus on other aspects such as the people who are teaching the uses of technology should be third-party individuals instead of family members. This gives a different perspective on whether or not intergenerational contribution to the learning process is necessarily beneficial. The article suggests that by having family members in the technological learning process it provides too many emotional ties and extra stress that could be harmful not only to the older adults, but also the younger family members. The authors of Older Adults' Training Preferences For Learning To Use Technology reflect that the benefit of older adult technological learning is that there are more open to having a whole variety of people as their instructors for technological learning (2010). They also noted that the content is not the most indicative of their effective learning, but rather it is the "trainer" that makes the experience for elderlies most effective. Oftentimes, research reveals that elderlies have negative attitudes towards adopting this technology, but they do understand the importance and benefits of doing so. Thus, Mike Waites presents research on how technology can be learned in an easier fashion through MAAVIS (Managed Access to Audio Visual and Information Services), a touchscreen piece of technology that combines the two aspects (audio and visual learning) that the lecture covers is important to successful elderly learning (2008). It can be seen as a form of jumping over the painful process and stress that the elderlies may feel during the learning process. From all this research, I learned that measures are being taken to ensure a proper learning environment for the elderlies that are willing to face this problem; on the other hand, technological measures are also being taken for the elderlies that are fearful and hesitant about technology.

References

Maltais, M. (2012 March 21). Seniors and their iPads, iPhones: keeping up in the computer age [Electronic version]. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved on 24 March 2012 from Los Angeles Times.

Mitzner, T., Fausset, C., Boron, J., Adams, A., Dijkstra, K., Lee, C., Rogers, W., and Fisk, A. (2008). Older adults' training preferences for learning to use technology [Electronic version]. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 52 (26), 2047-2051. Retrieved on 24 March 2012 from SAGE Journals database.

Waites, M. (2010 August 8). Technology giving care-home elderly window on the world [Electronic version]. Yorkshire Post. Retrieved on 24 March 2012 from Yorkshire Post.

Gaming and Aging

Video games and the elderly may just seem like polar opposites, but after our lectures and readings I thought about what it could mean if elderlies were actually exposed to the video games. From the readings and research that I have done, it shows that there is a lot of conflicting discourse about whether or not video games actually are beneficial to the aging process. Miller reports on this discourse by presenting HiFi. HiFi is a video game designed to stimulate the "neural circuits" of older adults in hopes of creating a form of preventative therapy that slows down or prevents mental diseases from developing. He shows that many mental diseases stem from the inability to process speech as well as adults grow older (2005). HiFi is a great piece of video gaming technology, because it differs from the high-paced games such as Need for Speed or Modern Warfare in that it promotes the slow and repetitive learning that our lectures have suggested is beneficial in successfully helping older individuals. However, some doctors believe that this neural stimulation is merely a temporary effect that is not significant enough to be acknowledged and breakthrough material. While researching video games that have been developed for the elderly, I came across an article by Nicholson about Brain Age 2. Little did I know Brain Age 2 was actually developed for elderly individuals rather than the growing minds of elementary school children--a belief I had until now. Nicholson argues that even though Brain Age 2 has successfully created a game that pushes older adults to play and compete for a younger age result, it still has a long way to go in terms of getting the older generation to even play with technology that they did not grow up with (2007). That being said, our era is still having trouble convincing the older people to embrace change and foreign technology. Yamaguchi, Maki, and Takahashi reported in an article about the educational issues and environments that people should focus on during development of video games for the elderly. The article reiterated the concerns in our lectures and how positive intrinsic reinforcement should be presented through promoting enjoyment, motivation, praise, and learning repetition for the elderly. With the improvement in technology it also shows a form of intergenerational overlapping in the learning process; this means that tools people use to teach the younger generation can also be used to help the older adults. Aging should be a progressive process that yields more wisdom as an individual grows older; thus, the importance of technology is not only a means of stimulation, but also a means of preservation.

References


Miller, G. (2005). Computer game sharpens aging minds [Electronic version]. Science, 310 (5752), 1261-1262. Retrieved on 25 February 2012 from ProQuest database.

Nicholson, P. (2007). Neuroscientist's video game gives aging brains a youthful boost [Electronic version]. Medical Post, 43 (27), 34-35. Retrieved on 25 February 2012 from ProQuest database.

Yamaguchi, H., Maki, Y., & Takahashi, K. (2010). Rehabilitation for dementia using enjoyable video-sports games [Electronic version]. International Psychogeriatrics, 23 (4), 674-676. Retrieved on 25 February 2012 from ProQuest database.

Car Technology and Aging

Recently, a good friend of mine got into a car accident in which the driver that hit him was a 92 year old man driving with an expired license. I started wondering if there is technology and systems that are being implemented to prevent risky driving and promote safe driving among the elderly people. During a time in which automakers from Ford, Honda, Mitsubishi, etc. are targeting the younger driver, these automakers are striving to bring in maximum safety with their revolutionary equipment and technology. However, what these automakers are failing to do is to remember to keep in mind that their needs to be enticement and technology geared towards the older adults too. Liss and McGuckin argue in their article that statistics show that older adults are more likely to keep driving their older cars as they grow older, avoiding these new and more safety conscious cars--leading to a higher rate of car accidents amongst older adults due to higher use of of older vehicles (2005). Naturally, as technology advances, we have a higher rate of mobility, which leads to older adults driving more frequently. Some technological advancements that Liss and McGuckin suggested include larger signboards, brighter lighting, the introduction of left-turn lanes, etc. In 2008, Galluzzo of the University of Iowa reported that a grant was given by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to the National Advanced Driving Simulator (NADS) to study and create an in-vehicle piece  of assistive technology designed to warn the elderly about oncoming accidents, red-light violations, intersection turn-taking, etc. Band and Perel introduce the latest technology in cars including night vision enhancement and lane departure assistance, just to name two important safety features that have been helping both the young and the elderly. Night vision enhancement is the use of far-infrared waves to procure a higher resolution image of the road conditions ahead. Lane departure assistance is a system that warns the driver when the computer senses that the vehicle is departing from its intended lane (2007). These preemptive measures measures are significan contributions to help the aging community. As the aging process progresses, learning and reaction time slows down significantly. This often causes elderlies stress when they are driving, because they are unable to react as fast to road changes. Much of our lectures have shown us that as the population of elderlies increase, the need for government to provide and implement social systems to help these elderly individuals becomes an increasingly important issue. Thus, implementing better and safer technology in cars for elderly people is very integral to this development of better social systems.      

References
Band, D., & Perel, M. (2007). New vehicle technologies may help older drivers [Electronic version]. Public Roads, 71 (3), 10-21. Retrieved on 25 February 2012 from ProQuest database.

Galluzzo, G. (2008). Study to examine older drivers and assistive technology [Electronic version]. University of Iowa News Release. Retrieved on 25 February 2012 from ProQuest database.

McGuckin, N., & Liss, S. (2005). Aging cars, aging drivers: important findings from the national household travel survey [Electronic version]. Institute of Transportation Engineers. ITE Journal, 75 (9), 30-35. Retrieved on 25 February 2012 from ProQuest database.

Mobile Phones and Aging

Day in and day out, I utilize my iPhone for purposes other than communication, such as using it as an organizer, a memo pad, and a calendar, in order to keep up with the fast-paced, busy lifestyle of a college student. I have caught myself recording down people's names and to-do lists the moment I think of them to prevent myself from losing my train of thought. Then, I began to think, "If I use my phone constantly as a memory tool, shouldn't elderlies invest more time in learning how to use a smart phone or does the complexity of the phone actually cause disturbance to their brain?" In the book Technology and Aging, there is an article written by Michael Massimi and Ronald Baecker called "An Empirical Study of Seniors' Perception of Mobile Phones as Memory Aids" which explores the implications of mobile phones as technology that can not only stimulate the minds of seniors, but also facilitate their memory process--stalling memory loss. This article was very interesting, because not only did the authors propose reasons as to why seniors continue to avoid mobile phone usage even though they have recognized these phones as effective memory aids, but also they conduct primary research and experimentation. From the research they conducted, they found that what seniors were looking for were characteristics such as portability, ease of use, proactive alarms, ease of size, etc. On the other hand, their primary concerns against mobile phones were complexity, hardware difficulty of use, etc. This study of technology that is geared towards the needs of the elderly is known as gerontechnology--presented in an article in the Journal of Systems and Software. Sri Kurniawan suggests in an article that to battle the elders' reluctance to use current mobile phones, phone developers should consider engaging the older people in the development of the phones so they can see the benefit it would have on their lives. Older people are more willing to utilize technology that they find is very beneficial to their lifestyle, even it means having to learn the odds and ends of the product. I believe that products such as mobile phones do not have a problem in engaging the younger generations, because the younger generation is always seeking the newest, most innovative product. The more important market share that these companies are lacking are that of older people; by securing this market share it would not only be beneficial to the phone company but also to elderlies as a facilitation towards the prevention of memory loss.

References

Kurniawan, S. (2007). Older people and mobile phones: A multi-method investigation [Electronic version]. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 66 (12), 889-901. Retrieved 31 Jan 2012 from USC Libraries database.

Mihailidis, A., Boger, J., & Kautz, H. (2008). Technology and Aging [Electronic version]. IOS Publishing. Retrieved 31 Jan 2012 from USC Libraries database.

Martin, L., Martin, S., Medrano, C., & Plaza, I. (2011). Mobile applications in an aging society: Status and trends [Electronic version]. Journal of Systems and Software, 84 (11), 1977-1988. Retrieved 31 Jan 2012 from USC Libraries database.