The Desirability of the Use of Technology to Prevent Social Isolation of Older Adults

As life expectancy has increased, more older adults are experiencing social isolation, which can increase the risk of several negative effects on their health. The use of technology by older adults can support the prevention of social isolation by enabling them to be proactive and motivated to establish human interactions with relatives and friends. This paper explores and presents the results of a survey administered to 74 people from the Centre for Independent Living NI (CILNI) to identify the prevalence of social isolation in Northern Ireland, and the desirability to use technology to prevent it. This paper also introduces an upcoming trial into the use of technology for the prevention of social isolation for older adults living alone.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Matias Garcia-Constantino

Jonathan Synnott

Chris Nugent

Austen Burns

Mike Little

Deepak Samson

Conference

Publication date: July 2018

Publication date (Print): July 2018

Pages: 1-5

Affiliations

[0001]School of Computing Ulster University Jordanstown, UK

[0002]Centre for Independent Living NI Belfast, UK

[0003]RF Proximity Belfast, UK

[0004]Connected Care Solutions Belfast, UK

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.227

SO-VID: b50d7805-2f4f-407c-a77c-0de020663aac

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of the 32nd International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference

Conference acronym: HCI

Conference number: 32

Conference location: Belfast, UK

Conference date: 4 - 6 July 2018

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Human Computer Interaction Conference

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.227

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

S. AartsS. T. M. PeekE. J. M. Wouters 2015 The relation between social network site usage and loneliness and mental health in community-dwelling older adults International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 30 9 942 949 John Wiley & Sons
R. BaeckerK. SellenS. CrosskeyV. BoscartB. Barbosa Neves 2014 Technology to Reduce Social Isolation and Loneliness Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility 27 34 ACM
Campaign to End Loneliness 2011 Measuring Your Impact On Loneliness In Later Life. Available from: http://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/wp-content/uploads/Loneliness-Measurement-Guidance1.pdf
Y. R. ChenP. J. Schulz 2016 The Effect of Information Communication Technology Interventions on Reducing Social Isolation in the Elderly: A Systematic Review Journal of Medical Internet Research 18 1
CILNI 2018 Centre for Independent Living NI. Available from: http://www.cilbelfast.org/
Connected Care Solutions 2018 Ethel – My elderly care hub. Available from: http://myethel.co.uk/
T. HeartE. Kalderon 2013 Older adults: Are they ready to adopt health-related ICT? International Journal of Medical Informatics 82 11 209 231 Elsevier
A. KarimiC. Neustaedter 2012 From high connectivity to social isolation: communication practices of older adults in the digital age Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work Companion 127 130 ACM
M. F. Lowenthal 1964 Social Isolation and Mental Illness in Old Age American Sociological Review 29 1 54 70 American Sociological Association
L. MagnussonE. HansonM. Borg 2004 A literature review study on Information and Communication Technology as a support for frail older people living at home and their family carers Technology and Disability 16 4 223 235 IOS Press
Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) 2015 A Profile of Older People in Northern Ireland: Annual Update 2015 Available from: http://www.executiveoffice-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/ofmdfm/a-profile-of-older-people-in-ni-annual-update-2015.pdf
NI-CHIC 2018 Northern Ireland Connected Health Innovation Centre. Available from: http://www.ni-chic.org/
S. PedellF. VetereL. KulikE. OzanneA. Gruner 2010 Social isolation of older people: the role of domestic technologies Proceedings of the 22nd Conference of the Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group of Australia on Computer-Human Interaction 164 167 ACM
RF Proximity 2018 RF Proximity Available from: http://www.rfproximity.com/
Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and Contact the Elderly 2012 Preventing loneliness and social isolation among older people. Available from: http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/ataglance/ataglance60.pdf
A. SteptoeA. ShankarP. DemakakosJ. Wardle 2013 Social isolation, loneliness, and all-cause mortality in older men and women Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110 15 5797 5801 National Academy of Sciences
C. R. VictorS. J. ScamblerA. BowlingJ. Bond 2005 The prevalence of, and risk factors for, loneliness in later life: a survey of older people in Great Britain Ageing & Society Journal 25 6 357 375 Cambridge University Press

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] S. AartsS. T. M. PeekE. J. M. Wouters 2015 The relation between social network site usage and loneliness and mental health in community-dwelling older adults International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 30 9 942 949 John Wiley & Sons

[2] R. BaeckerK. SellenS. CrosskeyV. BoscartB. Barbosa Neves 2014 Technology to Reduce Social Isolation and Loneliness Proceedings of the 16th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers & Accessibility 27 34 ACM

[3] Campaign to End Loneliness 2011 Measuring Your Impact On Loneliness In Later Life. Available from: http://www.campaigntoendloneliness.org/wp-content/uploads/Loneliness-Measurement-Guidance1.pdf

[4] Y. R. ChenP. J. Schulz 2016 The Effect of Information Communication Technology Interventions on Reducing Social Isolation in the Elderly: A Systematic Review Journal of Medical Internet Research 18 1

[5] CILNI 2018 Centre for Independent Living NI. Available from: http://www.cilbelfast.org/

[6] Connected Care Solutions 2018 Ethel – My elderly care hub. Available from: http://myethel.co.uk/

[7] T. HeartE. Kalderon 2013 Older adults: Are they ready to adopt health-related ICT? International Journal of Medical Informatics 82 11 209 231 Elsevier

[8] A. KarimiC. Neustaedter 2012 From high connectivity to social isolation: communication practices of older adults in the digital age Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work Companion 127 130 ACM

[9] M. F. Lowenthal 1964 Social Isolation and Mental Illness in Old Age American Sociological Review 29 1 54 70 American Sociological Association

[10] L. MagnussonE. HansonM. Borg 2004 A literature review study on Information and Communication Technology as a support for frail older people living at home and their family carers Technology and Disability 16 4 223 235 IOS Press

[11] Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) 2015 A Profile of Older People in Northern Ireland: Annual Update 2015 Available from: http://www.executiveoffice-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/ofmdfm/a-profile-of-older-people-in-ni-annual-update-2015.pdf

[12] NI-CHIC 2018 Northern Ireland Connected Health Innovation Centre. Available from: http://www.ni-chic.org/

[13] S. PedellF. VetereL. KulikE. OzanneA. Gruner 2010 Social isolation of older people: the role of domestic technologies Proceedings of the 22nd Conference of the Computer-Human Interaction Special Interest Group of Australia on Computer-Human Interaction 164 167 ACM

[14] RF Proximity 2018 RF Proximity Available from: http://www.rfproximity.com/

[15] Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and Contact the Elderly 2012 Preventing loneliness and social isolation among older people. Available from: http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/ataglance/ataglance60.pdf

[16] A. SteptoeA. ShankarP. DemakakosJ. Wardle 2013 Social isolation, loneliness, and all-cause mortality in older men and women Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110 15 5797 5801 National Academy of Sciences

[17] C. R. VictorS. J. ScamblerA. BowlingJ. Bond 2005 The prevalence of, and risk factors for, loneliness in later life: a survey of older people in Great Britain Ageing & Society Journal 25 6 357 375 Cambridge University Press

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