Ivan Watkins

Understanding and Changing Older Adults’ Perceptions and Learning of Social Media

An exploratory study was conducted to answer the following questions: What are older adults’ perceptions of social media? What educational strategies can facilitate their learning of social media? A thematic map was developed to illustrate changing perceptions from the initial unanimous, strong negative to the more positive but cautious, and to the eventual willingness to actually contribute content. Privacy was the primary concern and key perceptual barrier to adoption. Effective educational strategies were developed to overcome privacy concerns, including (a) introducing the concepts before introducing the functions; (b) responding to privacy concerns; and (c) making social media personally relevant.

eHealth Literacy Interventions for Older Adults: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Background eHealth resources offer new opportunities for older adults to access health information online, connect with others with shared health interests, and manage their health. However, older adults often lack sufficient eHealth literacy to maximize their benefit from these resources. Objective This review evaluates the research design, methods, and findings of eHealth literacy interventions for older adults. Methods A systematic review of peer-reviewed research articles from 28 databases in 9 fields was carried out in January 2013. Four rounds of screening of articles in these databases resulted in a final sample of 23 articles. Results Findings indicated a significant gap in the literature for eHealth literacy interventions evaluating health outcomes as the outcome of interest, a lack of theory-based interventions, and few studies applied high-quality research design. Conclusions Our findings emphasize the need for researchers to develop and assess theory-based interventions applying high-quality research design in eHealth literacy interventions targeting the older population.

Heuristic Evaluation of Healthy Eating Apps for Older Adults

The benefits of fruits and vegetables for older adults include reducing cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Tablets like the iPad can promote healthy behaviors, but usability issues for older adults remain unclear. Three experts evaluated five iPad apps related to fruit and vegetable intake using heuristics adapted from existing heuristics. Eight problems emerged: 1) icons use symbols and text with little connection to functionality; 2) unfamiliar symbols; 3) unnecessary steps required to complete tasks; 4) few accessibility features; 5) small text; 6) insufficient color contrast; 7) insufficient instructional features; and 8) unlabeled advertising. Design recommendations are presented for each problem.

Co-Designing Contextual Tutorials for Older Adults on Searching Health Information on the Internet

Evidence in the literature suggests an integrated e-tutorial is more effective than a paper- or video-based tutorial among younger people. Yet, relatively little is known about the effectiveness of an integrated e-tutorial on the older population. This study explored the applicability of an integrated e-tutorial to an older population, focusing on the content area of e-health literacy. A specific integrated etutorial, the Online Tutorial Overlay Presenter (OnTOP), was used to add an overlay to the NIHSeniorHealth.gov Website. Features of the overlay were examined thoroughly in seven 2-hour-long participatory design sessions with ten older adults. Several participatory design techniques were used to elicit participants’ preferences for design features of the OnTOP tutorial. These techniques included drawing on the board, voice recording and integration, and peer instruction. Three major themes emerged: 1) using contextual cues to facilitate learning; 2) tailoring to accommodate the learner’s literacy level; and 3) enhancing existing interfaces with multimedia cues. These findings improved the design of OnTOP. They also contribute to the multimedia learning literature, generating empirical evidence about the effects of multimedia learning among the understudied older adult population.