Abstract
BackgroundOlder people’s use of the internet is increasingly coming into focus with the demographic changes of a growing older population. Research reports several benefits of older people’s internet use and highlights problems such as various forms of inequality in use within the group. There is a need for consistent measurements to follow the development and use of the internet in this group and to be able to compare groups both within and between countries, as well as follow the changes over time.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to create an instrument to measure an older person’s perception of the benefits of their online social participation, unconnected to specific applications and services. The instrument to measure internet social participation proposed in this paper builds on social participation factors and is a multidimensional construct incorporating both social relations and societal connectedness.MethodsA short instrument for measuring social participation over the internet was created. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted in a random selection of persons aged 65 years or older (n=193) on 10 initial items. Further validation was made by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in the remaining group (n=193).ResultsA 1-factor solution for the social internet score was decided upon after exploratory factor analysis (EFA; based on a random sample of half the data set). None of the questionnaire items were excluded based on the EFA, as they all had high loadings, the lowest being 0.61. The Cronbach α coefficient was .92. The 1-factor solution explained 55% of the variance. CFA was performed and included all 10 questionnaire items in a 1-factor solution. Indices of goodness of fit of the model showed room for improvement. Removal of 4 questions in a stepwise procedure resulted in a 6-item model (χ26=13.985; χ2/degrees of freedom=1.554; comparative fit index=0.992; root mean square error of approximation=0.054; standardized root mean square residual=0.025).ConclusionsThe proposed instrument can be used to measure digital social participation and coherence with society. The factor analysis is based on a sufficient sample of the general population of older adults in Sweden, and overall the instrument performed as expected.
Highlights
Older adults’ internet use is the focus of an increasing number of research studies [1]
With an increasing number of older people getting access to the internet, the focus has shifted to a third-level digital divide in which the tangible outcomes of internet use are highlighted [8] and where actual users differ in how they benefit from their online presence
The instrument to measure internet social participation proposed in this paper builds on social participation factors and is a multidimensional construct incorporating both social relations and societal connectedness
Summary
Older adults’ internet use is the focus of an increasing number of research studies [1]. Internet use has been reported to promote the well-being [2] and active aging [3] among older people and to act as a possible support for maintaining cognitive function [4,5] Despite these benefits, there are reports of a lower percentage of internet users in older age groups than in the whole population [6,7], creating a digital divide, leaving out many older adults from the benefits of the online world. With an increasing number of older people getting access to the internet, the focus has shifted to a third-level digital divide in which the tangible outcomes of internet use are highlighted [8] and where actual users differ in how they benefit from their online presence One such outcome is the use of the internet to maintain social contacts and avoid loneliness [9,10,11]. The factor analysis is based on a sufficient sample of the general population of older adults in Sweden, and overall the instrument performed as expected
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