Older Adults Using Technology for Meaningful Activities During COVID-19: An Analysis Through the Lens of Self-Determination Theory

Restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected people's opportunities to engage in activities that are meaningful to their lives. In response to these constraints, many people, including older adults, turned to digital technologies as alternative ways to pursue meaningful activities. These technology-mediated activities, however, presented new challenges for older adults' everyday use of technology. In this paper, we investigate how older adults used digital technologies for meaningful activities during COVID-19 restrictions. We conducted in-depth interviews with 40 older adults and analyzed the interview data through the lens of self-determination theory (SDT). Our analysis shows that using digital technologies for meaningful activities can both support and undermine older people's three basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. We argue that future technologies should be designed to empower older adults' content creation, engagement in personal interests, exploration of technology, effortful communication, and participation in beneficent activities. © 2023 ACM.

Technology Deployment for Social Connection in Residential Aged Care: Care and Technology Providers' Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Information and communication technologies are being used for the social connection of people living in residential aged care. However, in HCI research concerning technology use in aged care, the perspectives of care and technology providers have received limited attention. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 aged care workers and technology providers to investigate the challenges and opportunities of deploying technologies in aged care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings highlighted that technologies such as videoconferencing and smart displays connected residents with family and friends, kept families informed and reassured, and were used in small groups to meet individual needs. However, limitations in video calling, staff fatigue, volunteer availability, and infrastructural resources presented barriers to technology deployment. Future use of technology for social connection in aged care requires careful facilitation from staff, better resourcing and infrastructural support, collaborations with volunteers, and more attention to individual needs. © 2023 Owner/Author.

Understanding Older Adults' Participation in Online Social Activities

Restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic have limited opportunities for older people to participate in face-to-face organised social activities. Many organisations moved these activities online, but little is known about older adults' experiences of participating in those activities. This paper reports an investigation of older adults' experiences of participating in social activities that they used to attend in-person, but which were moved online because of strict lockdown restrictions. We conducted in-depth interviews with 40 older adults living independently (alone or with others). Findings from a reflexive thematic analysis show that online social activities were important during the pandemic for not only staying connected to other people but also helping older adults stay engaged in meaningful activities, including arts, sports, cultural, and civic events. Online activities provided older adults with opportunities to connect with like-minded people;share care, encouragement, and support;participate in civic agendas;learn knowledge and develop new skills;and experience entertainment, distraction, and mental stimulation. Our participants had diverse perceptions of the transition from in-person to online social activities. Based on the findings, we present a taxonomy of multi-layered meaningful activities for older adults' digital social participation and highlight implications for future technology design. © 2022 ACM.

Older adults and their acquisition of digital skills: A review of current research evidence

Modern society is characterized by the use of information and communication technologies. Older adults are believed to face challenges while learning to use new technologies but there is very limited understanding of what those challenges are or how they should be overcome. In this paper, we present findings from a literature review of 22 articles conducted to a) identify challenges that older adults face learning digital skills, and b) understand older adults' reactions in response to learning challenges. The findings indicate that older adults mainly face five types of challenges in learning digital skills: 1) age-related barriers, 2) problems related to technology features or design, 3) perceptions of low self-efficacy, 4) negative societal attitude, and 5) complexity of training materials. The findings also indicate that facing and trying to overcome the challenges result in negative emotions like fear and anxiety which are detrimental to gaining confidence in technology use. We identify opportunities to improve digital skills training so that older adults can benefit from confident use of new technology. © 2020 ACM.