Wendy A. Rogers

Designing for older adults : principles and creative human factors approaches

Fundamentals Toward Better Design for Older Adults Characteristics of Older Adult Users Guiding the Design Process Design Guidelines Improving Perception of Information Design of Input and Output Devices Interface Design. Developing Training and Instructional Programs Exemplar Applications Making the Work Environment Age Friendly Maximizing the Usefulness and Usability of Health Care Technologies Transportation Designing Accommodations for Aging-in-Place Tutorials Involving Older Adults in Research and Usability Studies Conducting Focus Groups with Older Adults Statistical Considerations Task Analysis and Error Prediction GOMS Modeling for Older Adults Multimedia Design Conclusion Synthesis and Final Comments References Indexes

Older adults talk technology: Technology usage and attitudes

Older adults (n = 113) participated in focus groups discussing their use of and attitudes about technology in the context of their home, work, and healthcare. Participants reported using a wide variety of technology items, particularly in their homes. Positive attitudes (i.e., likes) outnumbered negative attitudes (i.e., dislikes), suggesting that older adults perceive the benefits of technology use to outweigh the costs of such use. Positive attitudes were most frequently related to how the technology supported activities, enhanced convenience, and contained useful features. Negative attitudes were most frequently associated with technology creating inconveniences, unhelpful features, as well as security and reliability concerns. Given that older adults reported more positive than negative attitudes about the technologies they use, these results contradict stereotypes that older adults are afraid or unwilling to use technology. These findings also highlight the importance of perceived benefits of use and ease of use for models of technology acceptance. Emphasizing the benefits of technology in education and training programs may increase future technology adoption.

Increasing the opportunities for aging in place

A growing social problem in the U.S. and elsewhere is supporting older adults who want to continue living independently as opposed to moving to an institutional care setting. The “Aging in Place” project strives to delay taking that first step away from the family home. Through the careful placement of technological support we believe older adults can continue living in their own homes longer. The goal of our research is to take a three-pronged approach to understanding the potential of such environmental supports. The research team combines expertise in human-computer-interaction, computational perception, and cognitive aging. Together the team is assessing the feasibility of designing environments that aid older individuals in maintaining their independence. Based on our initial research, we are dividing this work into three parts: recognizing and adverting crisis, assisting daily routines, and supporting peace of mind for adult children.

Functional limitations to daily living tasks in the aged: a focus group analysis.

We assessed constraints on daily living of 59 healthy, active adults 65–88 years of age in focus group interviews. Individual comments about specific problems were coded along the dimensions of (a) the locus of the problem (motor, visual, auditory, cognitive, external, or health limitations); (b) the activity involved (e.g., transportation, leisure, housekeeping); (c) whether the problem was attributable to task difficulty or the perception of risk; and (d) response to limitations (perseverance, cessation, compensation, or self-improvement). The data provide information about the types of difficulties encountered in everyday activities as well as the way in which individuals respond to such difficulties. Each comment was also coded in terms of whether it was remediable via training, design changes, or some combination of the two. More than half of the problems that were reported had the potential to be improved in some way, thus providing direction for future research in human factors and aging. Actual or potential applications of this research include identifying problems and difficulties that older adults encounter in daily activities such as transportation and leisure; more specifically, determining the degree to which such problems are potentially remediable by human factors solutions. Applications of this research also include understanding the types of systems, products, and technologies that older adults interact with currently, or are interested in learning to use.

WARNING RESEARCH: AN INTEGRATIVE PERSPECTIVE

We developed an integrative perspective on the empirical evidence supporting the influence of particular variables on the warning process based on a broad review of the warning literature. The warning process is described in terms of the following four components: notice, encode, comprehend, and comply. Relevant variables are classified as person variables (characteristics of the individual interacting with the warning) and warning variables (characteristics of the warning itself or the context in which the warning appears). This integrative perspective yields general principles about the variables that influence the warning process and serves as a resource for warning developers and as a guide to facilitate effective analysis of warnings. We also identify aspects of the warning process that are not well understood, directions for effective methods of intervention, and a research agenda for future efforts. Actual or potential applications of this research include improving the design of warnings.

Toward an Understanding of Age-Related Memory and Visual Search Effects

Young and old Ss were tested in 3 experiments conducted to explore factors leading to age-related performance differences in consistent mapping (CM) and varied mapping (VM) search tasks. The separate and combined influences of memory scanning and visual search on age-related search effects were examined. In both CM letter and CM semantic category search, age interacted with comparison load in visual and hybrid memory-visual search conditions, whereas differential age effects were not present in pure memory search. For VM search, age effects were present only in pure memory search. These data support the view that the separation of type of search training (CM and VM) as well as memory and visual search components is critical for predicting age-related performance differences. The dissociation of the pattern of age effects in memory and visual search suggests that memory and visual search involve different processing mechanisms.

Older Adults, Computer Training, and the Systems Approach: A Formula for Success.

Adults over the age of 65 are the fastest growing segment of computer users. Due to this increased demand, effective training programs are essential. Although previous research findings illustrate the importance of older adults’ goals, abilities, and experience levels in learning to use computers, these factors are often neglected in the development of computer training courses. We apply a systems approach to help bridge this gap between research and practice to address the disparity between what older adults would like to learn and the content of computer training courses. We review the literature on training older adults to use computers and report data from a set of structured interviews to illustrate the criticality of each step in the systems approach. Lastly, we provide the means to evaluate existing computer training programs and suggest modifications for improvement. Our purpose is not to evaluate specific programs, but to educate developers about an approach that has proven successful. Specifically, we provide suggestions for effective computer training for older adults.

An individual differences analysis of ability and strategy influences : Age-related differences in associative learning

The relationships among abilities, strategies, and performance on an associative learning task were investigated for young (aged 17 to 34) and older adults (aged 60 to 82). Participants received extensive practice on a noun-pair task in which they could use a visual-scanning strategy or a memory-retrieval strategy. Older adults were more likely to use the scanning strategy. Age differences were reduced when comparisons were made only for participants using a retrieval strategy. Associative memory was predictive of learning on the task, and semantic memory access speed was predictive of practiced performance. Practiced performance on a memory-search task that also required associative learning was predictive of practiced noun-pair performance. Models of ability-performance relationships for skill acquisition are discussed.

The Use of Communication Technologies by Older Adults: Exploring the Benefits from the User's Perspective:

The use of advanced communication media may enhance the social networks of older adults. Although many older adults are open to new technology, there are still barriers that keep them from learning and using media such as e-mail and the Internet. Besides lacking skills, the lack of perceived advantages, or benefits, may also explain their reluctance. The goal of the present study was to investigate perceived context-related benefits of communication methods by older adults. Forty-eight independently living older adults in the age range of 65-80 years, 24 e-mail users and 24 non-users, participated in a focus group discussion of different communication scenarios. A systematic analysis of their comments and statements showed the relevance of perceived context-related benefit as a motivational factor for using or not using a medium. An implication of these results may be that training the skills to handle a new technology should also involve providing information about its specific benefits, from the users perspective.

Training older adults to use automatic teller machines

The present study assessed the success of several instructional programs in teaching the use of automatic teller machines (ATMs). Fifty-six older adults (aged 61 to 81) participated in the study, randomly assigned to each of four, 14-member groups. The description group received only a general overview of an ATM; the text guide group received written instructions for performing various transactions on an ATM; the pictorial guide group received written instructions accompanied by pictures of corresponding ATM screens; and the online tutorial group completed a step-by-step tutorial on a simulated ATM. Participants practiced on an ATM simulator. They were tested after a 24-h interval on their ability to perform familiar transactions on an unfamiliar ATM simulator and to perform completely novel transactions. Accuracy was best for the online tutorial group, intermediate for the text and pictorial guide groups, and worst for the description group. These data demonstrate both the importance of providing older adults with ATM training and the fact that the type of training influences the level of performance. The online tutorial. which provided specific practice on the task components, best facilitated acquisition and transfer performance.