Efficacy of Interventions Based on the Use of Information and Communication Technologies for the Promotion of Active Aging.

Beatriz Gómez-Martín,Lorena Verdú-Garcés,Álvaro Astasio-Picado,Paula Cobos-Moreno,María Del Carmen Zabala-Baños

doi:10.3390/ijerph19031534

Abstract

Nowadays, the study of how new media and technologies can be used to carry out health education by bringing these tools closer to the elderly population is interesting. It is a way of offering them access not only to greater knowledge, but to greater communication and relationship with their surroundings, a range of new possibilities and resources at their disposal that also represent a way to reduce the generation gap and bring them closer to the rest of the community. Objectives: to evaluate and analyze the studies that show the efficacy of interventions based on the use of information and communication technologies for the promotion of active aging in people older than or equal to 65 years who live in the community. Data sources, study eligibility criteria: the search for the articles was carried out from January 2012 to March 2021, in 6 databases (Pubmed, Cochrane Library, Scopus, Scielo, Google Academic and WOS) based on the clinical question, using the keywords derived from the DeCS and MeSH thesauri, combined with the Boolean operators “AND”, “NOT” and “OR”. The search was limited to publications from the last 9 years, in English and Spanish. Results: after applying the selection criteria and evaluating the quality of the methodology, 7.91% (n = 17) of the 215 results were included with filters: 7 systematic review, 5 of Cohorts and 5 of Randomized Controlled Trial. Conclusions and implications of key findings: the use of communication technologies reduces the feeling of loneliness, as well as the use of virtual reality to exercise, train memory or perform rehabilitation. The most difficult barrier to overcome is the prior ignorance of the majority of the elderly to the technology that is overcome by working as a team throughout the community, especially in the health and educational sector, as well as the family or social nucleus.

Highlights

The general objective of this work is to analyze the studies that demonstrate interventions based on the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for the promotion of active aging in people older than or equal to 65 years living in the community
Inclusion criteria: the period between January 2012 to March 2021; studies based on interventions carried out through ICTs or other digital media; studies aimed at the target population, that is, people aged 65 years or older; studies that address issues of common chronic diseases of old age, since prevention must begin before the disease appears; the selected studies must have scientific evidence and be published in corroborated databases; Spanish or English language; studies that show the benefits or harms of the use of new technologies to achieve active aging
ICTs reduce the feeling of loneliness or helplessness in active aging

Summary

Introduction

In Spain, with a population of more than 47 million inhabitants, the population over 65 years of age corresponds to 19.58% of the total, compared to 7.62% corresponding to its birth rate. This translates into around 57,000 more deaths than births per year, which produces a contraction and aging of the Spanish population [1]. Life expectancy in this country is very high compared to other countries, the average being 83.5 years. This data can vary according to the region and be slightly higher in women than in men, reflected in the population pyramid [2]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion