Understanding Issues Surrounding Technology Uptake and the Influence of Technology and Decision Making in Older Adults

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Project Summary This project consists of two studies involving older adult decision-making that are linked by the common CREATE goal of understanding how older adults make decisions that can significantly impact the quality of their lives in contexts where technology plays a critical role. Study 1's goal is to understand and thus better predict the decisions older adults make with respect to their willingness to adopt technology applications that hold potentially high value in improving their independence and well-being, but which also require expenditure of cognitive effort to adopt. For example, older adults may need to learn a software application to increase their prospects of finding employment or engage in online self-learning activities such as learning a new language. In Study 1, we will recruit 48 participants into 6 focus groups, in English and Spanish, to identify four such applications across three age groups: young-old (65-74), middle-old (75-84), and old-old (85+). We will then test a model containing five facilitators and inhibitors that are predicted, through their interplay and direct influences, to impact the decisions older adults make regarding pursuit of such technologies using 225 participants, 75 from the three age groups. Self-appraisals related to these facilitator/inhibitor variables will also be elicited. Findings from this study will provide valuable insights into theories and guidelines for technology uptake. Study 2 will comprehensively examine the relative roles of six different sources of health information, characterized from most traditional to least traditional (e.g., newspaper, physician advice versus Internet-based guidance, simulated online social network), in influencing the choices that both younger and older people make with regard to both low and high risk healthcare decisions using four healthcare decision making scenarios. Participants will be asked to provide their most preferred decision option from a list of available options, which will be ranked by the research team, including a physician, from best to worst. For each decision problem scenario, participants will also be asked to choose their most preferred source of information from the six sources, and the number of sources they used to support their decision making process. The study will also examine how these choices are impacted by individual characteristics such as age, cognitive abilities, personality, health literacy, numeracy ability, risk attitude, and trust in information source. Study participants will include 50 younger (20-40 years), 50 middle-aged (41-64 years), and 50 older (65+) adults. Findings from this study can be used to help develop a framework for understanding healthcare decision making among older adults.