The Role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Older Adults’ Decision-Making Related to Health, and Health and Social Care Services in Daily Life—A Scoping Review

Abstract

Information and communication technology (ICT) can potentially support older adults in making decisions and increase their involvement in decision-making processes. Although the range of technical products has expanded in various areas of society, knowledge is lacking on the influence that ICT has on older adults’ decision-making in everyday situations. Based on the literature, we aimed to provide an overview of the role of ICT in home-dwelling older adults’ decision-making in relation to health, and health and social care services. A scoping review of articles published between 2010 and 2020 was undertaken by searching five electronic databases. Finally, 12 articles using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method designs were included. The articles were published in journals representing biology and medicine, nursing, informatics, and computer science. A majority of the articles were published in the last five years, and most articles came from European countries. The results are presented in three categories: (i) form and function of ICT for decision-making, (ii) perceived value and effect of ICT for decision-making, and (iii) factors influencing ICT use for decision-making. According to our findings, ICT for decision-making in relation to health, and health and social care services was more implicitly described than explicitly described, and we conclude that more research on this topic is needed. Future research should engage older adults and health professionals in developing technology based on their needs. Further, factors that influence older adults’ use of ICT should be evaluated to ensure that it is successfully integrated into their daily lives.

End Users’ and Other Stakeholders’ Needs and Requirements in the Development of a Personalized Integrated Care Platform (PROCare4Life) for Older People With Dementia or Parkinson Disease: Mixed Methods Study

“…Therefore, in addition to patients, offering training opportunities for HCPs and caregivers is of great importance. Staff who are familiar with the platform, have experience, and are interested in using it play an important role in encouraging their patients to use it [ 55 , 56 ].…”

Older adults’ experiences with using information and communication technology and tech support services in New York City: findings and recommendations for post-pandemic digital pedagogy for older adults

“…To older adults, 'warm experts' typically are their close personal networks, such as families, friends, peers, and social service providers, who are able to offer personalized support in a timely manner (Olsson and Viscovi, 2018;Hänninen et al, 2020;10.3389/fpsyg.202310.3389/fpsyg. .1129512 Hunsaker et al, 2020Nordin et al, 2021). Moreover, as indicated by Quan-Haase et al's (2018) study, tech support might not be desired by all older adults with limited skills and experiences, as some place more value on offline engagements and perceive the tech learning process as a waste of time and effort.…”

“…Introduced by sociologist Bakardjieva (2005) , the term warm expert refers to more technologically experienced individuals who are in a tech novice’s close social network, who help inexperienced tech users to solve their technical problems and contribute to their learning process. To older adults, ‘warm experts’ typically are their close personal networks, such as families, friends, peers, and social service providers, who are able to offer personalized support in a timely manner ( Olsson and Viscovi, 2018 ; Hänninen et al, 2020 ; Hunsaker et al, 2020 ; Nordin et al, 2021 ). Moreover, as indicated by Quan-Haase et al’s (2018) study, tech support might not be desired by all older adults with limited skills and experiences, as some place more value on offline engagements and perceive the tech learning process as a waste of time and effort.…”

Methods to assess the effectiveness and acceptance of information and communication technology-based assistive technology for older adults: a scoping review

“…With regard to information and communication technology-based assistive technology, there is no uniform terminology in the literature, which makes the comparison of services challenging. The following homologous terms are used in the literature: home and community-based services (HCBS) [6], ICT-based assistive technology (ICT-based AT) [7], ICT [8,9], intelligent assistive system [10], intelligent assistive technology [11], cognitive assistive technology [12], social assistance robot [13,14], ambient assistive living technology [15], welfare technology [16], quality of life technology [17], AT [18][19][20] and assistive technology device [21]. In this study, we chose the term ICT-based AT as the service definition.…”