Use and perception of gerontechnology: differences in a group of Spanish older adults

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the profile of use of gerontechnology in Spanish older adults considering their age group (60–70; 71–80 and over 80 years) and to discern whether groups of subjects with similar characteristics can be established to ascertain which factors are behind the profile of frequent gerontechnology use. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative study is presented to understand the profile of use of gerontechnology in Spanish older adults. The sample comprised 497 participants (aged between 60 and 94 years). Findings The results show that, even though most participants consider technology to be useful in their daily lives, there is still a lack of knowledge on how to use it, especially among older subjects. This highlights the importance of promoting technological cocreation initiatives such as senior living labs. Research limitations/implications Other researchers are encouraged to include the voices of older adults using gerontechnology in further studies. Practical implications If we want to increase the acceptance of technology by older adults, we must first let them take part in the design of the technologies they will use. Social implications This research provides promising data that should merit attention to contribute to the well-being and quality of life of older adults in a society where currently technology is a key part in every sphere of our daily life. Originality/value The value of this research lies in the implications of “aging in place” studies today.

Perceptions of older people about the use of cell phones in Argentina: a contribution from the gerontotechnological perspective

“…The socio-educational profile influences all the cell phone use perception variables, except for selfefficacy. These findings coincide with those of prior studies that affirm the influence of age and years of education over self-efficacy in the use of technology (Anderson and Perrin, 2017;Murciano Hueso et al, 2022a, 2022b, and suggest that buying a technological product may indicate that older peoples perceive a certain ability to use it in a gratifying way. Ma et al (2021) indicate that age and educational level are significant factors in cell phone acceptance among older people.…”

“…Perceived anxiety limits the frequent use of technological products and may be due to phenomena such as fear of the unknown or data and identity theft. Further, authors such as Murciano Hueso et al (2022aHueso et al ( , 2022b indicate that anxiety is a barrier to the use of technology. In the case of the influence of anxiety on the monthly cost, we did not find prior evidence that would explain the reason behind this finding.…”

“…Previous studies highlight self-efficacy as a critical factor in older people’s use of various technologies. Self-confidence helps them use technological products more easily, and this ease of use increases self-efficacy at this stage in life (Ren et al , 2015; Murciano Hueso et al , 2022a, 2022b). There is evidence that older people display self-efficacy when using technology, and that technology plays a fundamental role during people’s advanced years (Lozoya et al , 2022).…”

“…The former aims to analyze the influence of beliefs and attitudes toward technology on the effective use of technology (Davis et al , 1989). TAM is used to analyze the types of technological uses and highlights two factors as predictors of technology use: perceived usefulness and ease of use (Murciano Hueso et al , 2022a, 2022b). Subsequently, the unified theory of technology acceptance and use emerged as a model, called UTAUT (Venkatesh et al , 2003).…”

Technology and Quality of Life of Older People in Times of COVID: A Qualitative Study on Their Changed Digital Profile

“…Most studies have been approached from the logic of quantitative research [ 32 , 33 , 34 ]. A qualitative approach can offer a more profound and direct complementary overview of this type of perception [ 34 , 35 ].…”