Abstract
The share of the population aged 65 years and over is increasing in every EU Member State, candidate country, and EFTA Member State. WHO/Europe has established a Subnetwork on Healthy Ageing within the European Healthy Cities Network and provides guidance to Member States in developing profiles of healthy ageing, since, given the increasing number of older adults, maintaining their health status is a crucial issue. This article, which is part of the Latvian national scientific program VPP INOSOCTEREHI, focuses on the issues related to the design, implementation, and assessment of user interfaces that can maximize usability in social telerehabilitation systems for older adult users. This is a very real challenge, since older adults don’t form a homogeneous class. Investigating older adults’ skills and their attitudes towards the perceived usefulness of computer applications could be helpful in identifying some sub-sets of older adult users and their typical behaviours.
Highlights
The share of the population aged 65 years and over is increasing in every EU Member State, candidate country, and EFTA Member State
This article, which is part of the Latvian national scientific program VPP INOSOCTEREHI, focuses on the issues related to the design, implementation, and assessment of user interfaces that can maximize usability in social telerehabilitation systems for older adult users
It has been observed that, in healthy ageing, the subjective dimension is important: for an individual, it encompasses well-being, capacity for independent activity, meaningful involvement, supportive environments, and positive attitudes (Cutchin, 2005; Bowling, 2006; Stenner, McFarquhar & Bowling, 2011). All this extends the sphere of the potential services for older adults and, in accordance with the diffusion of new technologies, enhances the opportunity to create and deliver new services based on Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
Summary
The Latvian national science program VPP INOSOCTEREHI is a new three-year multidisciplinary project in the field of social telerehabilitation focused on social inclusion. This project is being conducted by four Latvian Universities (Rezekne Technology Academy, Latvia University, Riga Technical University, and Liepaja University), and investigates the use of mobile technology in the scope of social rehabilitation (http://telerehabilitation.lv/). This paper reports on reflections derived from preliminary and explorative desk research conducted within the VPP INOSOCTEREHI scientific program. It focuses on several aspects related to accessibility and usability of telerehabilitation services. Most computer programs for the care of older adults can help in alleviating the caregivers’ burden, even allowing them to perform tasks from a distance: Health monitors which continuously monitor pulse, skin temperature, and movement; Video monitors; Hip protectors; Pressure mats which check if a person mobilises from a bed or a chair; Door alerts for patients who wander at night; Movement detectors
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