Learning to Use a Home Medical Device: Mediating Age-Related Differences with Training

Abstract

We examined the differential benefits of instructional materials for younger and older adults learning to use a home medical device. Participants received training on use of a blood glucose meter via either a user manual (a text guide with pictures) or an instructional video. Performance was measured immediately and then after a 2-week retention interval. Type of instruction was critical for determining older adults' performance. Older adults trained using the manual had poorer performance than did all other groups. After only 1 calibration, older adults who received video training performed as accurately as did the younger adults. Older adults' performance was more influenced by the retention interval; however, the benefit of the video training was maintained for the older adults across the retention interval. Confidence ratings paralleled subjective workload ratings. The data provide practical information to guide the development of training programs for systems that will be used by both younger and older adults; they also demonstrate the need for age-related usability testing even for training program design.

Contextual Constraints in Situation Model Construction: An Investigation of Age and Reading Span

“…Response time data over the course of the experiment support this idea, as younger adults show an increase in response speed later in the experiment [from the middle to the last block of the experiment: F(1, 32) = 7.42, MSE = 2984.84, p = .01, η π 2 = .188], suggesting strategy implementation. On the other hand, older adults only show an initial increase in response speed, 30 CAROL J. MADDEN AND KATINKA DIJKSTRA commonly observed towards the beginning of experiments as they familiarize themselves with the task (Charness, Holley, Feddon, & Jastrzembski, 2004;Mykityshyn, Fisk, & Rogers, 2002), but no further speed up over the course of the rest of the experiment [from the first to the middle block of the experiment: F(1, 29) = 10.15, MSE = 9715.17, p < .01, η p 2 = .259; from the middle to the last block of the experiment: F < 1].…”

Development and evaluation of an audiovisual information resource to promote self-management of chemotherapy side-effects

“…Patient coping can be improved by providing role models of adaptive coping with chemotherapy [5]. Video modelling has also been shown to be more effective than written instructions for teaching health behaviours, particularly with older adults [19]. These principles were applied in the current video by including footage of (a) people receiving chemotherapy and (b) people speaking about their experiences of managing the side-effects of chemotherapy.…”

Ambient intelligence

“…It combines two complimentary research efforts. One is aimed at understanding what kind of training and feedback should be used for older adults, by evaluating the use of conceptual and procedural feedback for both short-term and long-term use of the device [McLaughlin et al 2002;Mykityshyn et al 2002]. The other is to track and assess the use of the device by developing new techniques for modelling complex chronological tasks and new methods for recognizing actions from sensor data.…”