Variability among older adults in Internet health information-seeking performance

Abstract

Understanding sources of performance variability in technology-based tasks among older adults is important to the development of design interventions. This study compared older adults (60-83 yrs) with high levels of performance on Internet health information-seeking tasks to older adults with lower levels of Internet performance on measures of: domain knowledge, cognitive abilities, Internet experience, and computer attitudes. The older adults were also compared on these factors to a sample of younger adults (20-38 yrs). In addition, we examined if factors that predicted performance varied between younger-old and older-old adults. Results indicated that the high performing older adults had higher reasoning skills and Internet knowledge than the low performers. They also had higher reasoning skills than the younger adults and the same level of Internet knowledge. Predictors of performance varied within the older age cohort such that among the younger-old adults knowledge about the Internet was the strongest predictor of performance whereas among the older-old adults cognitive abilities were the strongest predictors of performance. The implications of these results for training and interface design are discussed.