In-Home Technology Training Among Socially Isolated Older Adults: Findings From the Tech Allies Program

Abstract

Technology has the potential to increase social connectedness among older adults, but one-third do not use the internet. We formed a community partnership, Tech Allies, providing tablets, broadband, and 1:1 training to isolated older adults. In a pragmatic pilot trial, participants were randomized into intervention ( n = 44) and waitlist ( n = 39) groups. Volunteers provided eight weekly, in-home iPad lessons. Surveys assessed self-reported loneliness, social support, technology use, and confidence at baseline and follow-up. A subgroup completed in-home interviews. The intervention group showed no change in loneliness, marginally significant improvement in social support and technology confidence, and significant increase in technology use. Among the waitlist group, no changes were observed. Interviews showed some participants felt more connected to the world, and many expressed increased technology confidence. Key implementation lessons on program feasibility are discussed. Embedding training within existing community-based programs holds promise as a potentially sustainable mechanism to provide digital training to older adults.

The Impact of an Internet Use Promotion Programme on Communication, Internet Use, and the Extent of Social Networks among Low-Income Older Adults

“…The frequency of internet use significantly increased. These findings are consistent with past studies that demonstrated increased internet use for communication among older adults after training participation (Bertera et al, 2007;Damnee et al, 2019;Fields et al, 2020;Ibarra et al, 2020;Woodward et al, 2011). Hypotheses 1 and 3 were supported, and Hypothesis 2 was partially supported.…”

“…Computer and internet training for older adults has shown that it can assist them in using the computer and internet more regularly for communication purposes, which can serve to decrease the digital divide (Bertera et al, 2007;Damnee et al, 2019;Fields et al, 2020;Ma et al, 2020;Woodward et al, 2011;Xie & Bugg, 2009). In a randomized field trial for older adults (60 years and older) of a 6-month computer and internet training programme (Woodward et al, 2011), participants in the experimental group demonstrated improvements in computer usage self-efficacy.…”

“…A tablet-PC training intervention with 13 community-based older adults through 10 sessions over a 5-month period demonstrated statistically significant improvements in participants' internet and information communication technology acceptance and skills (Damnee et al, 2019). In an in-home technology training programme in which tablets, broadband, and individualized training were provided to socially isolated older adults (Fields et al, 2020), participants were randomized into the treatment (n = 44) and waitlist (n = 39) groups. Results showed that the intervention group demonstrated statistically significant improvements in technology use, and marginally significant improvements in technology confidence and social support (Fields et al, 2020).…”

“…In an in-home technology training programme in which tablets, broadband, and individualized training were provided to socially isolated older adults (Fields et al, 2020), participants were randomized into the treatment (n = 44) and waitlist (n = 39) groups. Results showed that the intervention group demonstrated statistically significant improvements in technology use, and marginally significant improvements in technology confidence and social support (Fields et al, 2020).…”

“…Despite the diversity of the older population in the United States (Mather et al, 2015;Mather et al, 2019), older adults from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to be included in computer and internet-related interventions and evaluation studies (Kim, 2008). Besides a few exceptions (Bertera et al, 2007;Campbell, 2008;Fields et al, 2020;Jung et al, 2010), most computer and internet-related evaluation studies on non-institutionalized older adults in the United States have been conducted with more resourced populations (Kim, 2008). Participants in evaluated programmes tend to be well educated or overwhelmingly White (Berkowsky et al, 2013;Billipp, 2001;White et al, 2002).…”