| Keywords |
Smartphone; Aged; Personal satisfaction; Independent living; Health status |
| Abstract |
Background: Gerontechnology aims to give older people a healthier, more independent, and more sociallyengaged life. In contrast to the widespread use of smartphones by young people, the older generation use only a few functions of their smartphones. Therefore, this study aims to investigate smartphone utilization by older people, and identifies the relationship between the participant’s characteristics, satisfaction, and the utilization of smartphones.
Method: This study was conducted as cross-sectional descriptive research. Data was collected from 104 elderly people with smartphones registered at their community service centers, in both rural and urban areas, from March 16th to 23rd.
Pearson’s correlation coefficient was calculated to identify the relationship between participant’s characteristics, satisfaction, and the utilization of smartphones. Results: 4.28 functions of smartphones, including texting and taking pictures were used. The elderly within the younger age bracket (r=-.44, p<.001), better physical function (r=.36, p<.001), and better perceived health status (r=.24, p=.014) used a larger variety of smartphone functions. Conclusion: This study showed that the elderly mainly used smartphones for communication with others. As we consider smartphone’s various uses in the health and welfare areas, further studies investigating the barrier of smartphone usage will be required. |