Digital Assistant Training Curriculum & Software

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究项目将创建、检查并消除培训老年人使用个人数字助理（PDA）的障碍。我们将利用培训创建和评估两个涉及日常活动的应用程序，即药物提醒程序和社会活动问卷程序。我们将在使用PDA应用程序时检查老年人的药物依从性。我们将研究老年人的社会网络和活动，并探讨PDA对老年人生活质量的潜在影响。我们还将检查老年人使用标准PDA应用程序（电话簿、日历等）、增强应用程序（药物提醒和调查程序）和通信应用程序（电子邮件）的能力。在3个月的使用测试后，参与者将建议哪些新应用程序对增强他们的独立性最有用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This research project will create, examine and bridge barriers in training older adults to use a personal digital assistant (PDA). We will apply the training to create and evaluate two applications that involve daily activities, namely a medication reminder program and a social activity questionnaire program. We will examine the medication adherence of older adults while using the PDA application. We wilt examine older adult social networks and activities and explore the PDA's potential impact on older adults quality of life. We will also examine older adults' ability to use standard PDA applications (phone book, calendar, etc.), enhanced applications (medication reminder and survey programs), and communication applications (email). After a 3-month use test, participants will then suggest what new applications would be most useful to enhance their independence. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATION: Strong market potential exists for the development of training modules and software to facilitate using a personal digital assistant. Currently, the technology is difficult to learn and difficult to use. But personal digital assistant training and software can be designed to be universally easy to use, particularly for older adults, using techniques developed for computers over the last two decades. The personal digital assistant has the promise of becoming an ubiquitous device that can enhance the quality of life for all individuals, young and old, able and disabled.