Connecting Older Adults and Their Families through Social Technology

Abstract

Abstract Background Older adults often face problems with social isolation, which is a risk factor for poorer mental and physical health. New forms of social technologies (e.g., WhatsApp) provide opportunities to facilitate social connectedness with family members. Understanding older adults’ behaviors and perceptions related to digital communication tools can inform the development of interventions to increase the adoption of these tools for social communication. This study aims to evaluate attitudes and barriers to as well as facilitators of social technology reported by grandparents and grandchildren. The secondary aim is to examine the associations between social technology use and health and well-being outcomes and to identify what factors mediate the use of social technology. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 144 grandchildren (Mage=26.53, SD = 9.17; 81.9% female) were recruited through student mailing lists. Grandparents were invited either through their grandchild or by the research team and recruitment is expected to be completed by September 2019. Three main groups of variables were examined: health and well-being outcomes, social support related outcomes and social technology related outcomes. Results & Conclusions Grandchildren reported very positive attitudes toward social technology as expected. Greater social technology use was associated with better psychological (r =.26, p =.002) and subjective well-being (rs =.20, p =.023), higher psychosocial flourishing (r =.41, p <.001), social support (rs =.22, p =.009) and social connectedness (r =.39, p <.001). Social technology use was not correlated with health, the grandparent-grandchild relationship, loneliness and depression at the bivariate level. Barriers to social technology are security concerns, threat to privacy and constant availability. Facilitators include increased contact, dealing with geographic boundaries and information seeking. Results from grandparents will also be presented. Key messages Social technology has potential to enhance older adults’ lives by facilitating better family relationships, building social support, reducing loneliness and through this improve health and well-being. More research is needed in this area to understand benefits or potential harms and dynamics between younger family members and older adults in use of social technology.