Appl Clin Inform 2015; 06(03): 429-442
DOI: 10.4338/ACI-2015-03-RA-0033
Research Article
Schattauer GmbH

eHealth 2015 Special Issue: Effects of an assistance service on the quality of life of elderly users

V. Willner
1   Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft m.b.H., MOWI, Salzburg, Austria
,
C. Schneider
1   Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft m.b.H., MOWI, Salzburg, Austria
,
M. Feichtenschlager
2   Salzburger Hilfswerk, Salzburg, Austria
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Correspondence to:

Viktoria Willner
Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft m.b.H.
Jakob Haringer Straße 5/3
5020 Salzburg, Austria

Publication History

received: 30 March 2015

accepted in revised form: 12 May 2015

Publication Date:
19 December 2017 (online)

 

Summary

Background: The ‘Confidence’ smartphone application aims to support elderly people’s independence as long as possible.

Objective: This paper presents first findings on the impact of the system on elderlies’ lives.

Methods: 41 end-users tested ‘Confidence’ for six weeks in their daily routine. Before and after the test period the participants assessed their quality of life (QoL). These assessments were analyzed together with additional QoL statements and the usage of ‘Confidence’ which were collected with questionnaires.

Results: Six participants assessed their QoL after the trial better than before and six participants assessed it as worse. Five individuals felt that ‘Confidence’ positively influenced their life and these five testers had a positive attitude towards ‘Confidence’ from the start of the trial. After the trial 38 % of the participants said that they felt safer, 37 % communicated more with others, 27 % forgot less, 13 % felt better oriented outside, and 7 % were more on the move due to ‘Confidence’. Three percent said that they were less on the move, two percent felt more unsafe and two percent were less outside.

Conclusion: ‘Confidence’ has the potential to affect elderly users’ lives. However, within this analysis positive or negative effects of its usage were not correlated with the QoL assessment. A connection between positive attitude towards technology prior use and a positive impact afterwards was found.

Citation: Willner V, Schneider C, Feichtenschlager M. Effects of an assistance service on the quality of life of elderly users. Appl Clin Inform 2015; 6: 429–442

http://dx.doi.org/10.4338/ACI-2015-03-RA-0033


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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest in the research.

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  • 3 Parisa R, Mihailidis A. A survey on ambient-assisted living tools for older adults. IEEE journal of biomedical and health informatics 2013; 17 (03) 579-590.
  • 4 Schneider C, Willner V, Feichtenschlager M, Andrushevich A, Spiru L. Collecting user requirements for electronic assistance for people with dementia: a case study in three countries Proceedings of the eHealth 2013. Ammenwerth E, Hörbst A, Hayn D, Schreier G. eds., Vienna: OCG. 2013: 107-112.
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Correspondence to:

Viktoria Willner
Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft m.b.H.
Jakob Haringer Straße 5/3
5020 Salzburg, Austria

  • References

  • 1 Bloom DE, Boersch-Supan A, McGee P, Seike A. Population aging: facts, challenges, and responses. Benefits and Compensation International 2011; 41 (01) 22.
  • 2 Czaja SJ, Sharit J. The aging of the population: Opportunities and challenges for human factors engineering. The Bridge: Linking Engineering and Society 2009; 39 (01) 34-40.
  • 3 Parisa R, Mihailidis A. A survey on ambient-assisted living tools for older adults. IEEE journal of biomedical and health informatics 2013; 17 (03) 579-590.
  • 4 Schneider C, Willner V, Feichtenschlager M, Andrushevich A, Spiru L. Collecting user requirements for electronic assistance for people with dementia: a case study in three countries Proceedings of the eHealth 2013. Ammenwerth E, Hörbst A, Hayn D, Schreier G. eds., Vienna: OCG. 2013: 107-112.
  • 5 Willner V, Schneider C, Kistler R, Feichtenschlager M, Spiru L, Turcu I, Meyer T. Wishes and Desires of End Users Regarding a Mobility Safeguarding Assistance Service for People with Dementia. In: Pohjanen E. editor. Impacting Individuals, Society and Economic Growth, Proceedings of the 5th AAL Forum. 2013: 71-77.
  • 6 Folstein MF, Folstein SE, McHugh PR. “Mini-mental state”: a practical method for grading the cognitive state of patients for the clinician. Journal of psychiatric research 1975; 12 (03) 189-198.
  • 7 Oemar M, Janssen B. EQ-5D-5L User Guide. [cited 2015 Jan 16]. Available from: www.euroqol.org.
  • 8 who.int [Internet]. WHOQOL-BREF. [cited 2015 Jan 16]. Available from: http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/research_tools/whoqolbref/en/.
  • 9 Karrer K, Glaser C, Clemens C, Bruder C. Technikaffinität erfassen- der Fragbogen TA-EG. Der Mensch im Mittelpunkt technischer Systeme 2009; 8: 196-201. German.
  • 10 Trukeschitz B, Sengschmid T, Schneider U. Versteckte Kosten der Angehörigenpflege: die psychosoziale Belastungen pflegender Angehöriger Elder Care (Altenpflege). Intersektionelle Analysen der informellen Betreuung und Pflege alter Menschen in Österreich. Hrsg. E. Appelt; E. Fleischer; M. Preglau, Innsbruck: Studienverlag 2014: 113-130. German.
  • 11 Lewis JR. Computer Usability Satisfaction Questionnaires: Psychometric Evaluation and Instructions for Use. IBM Technical Report 1993; 54: 786.
  • 12 Zahava G, Bowling A. Quality of life from the perspectives of older people. Ageing and Society 2004; 24. 05: 675-691.
  • 13 Netuveli G, Blane D. Quality of life in older ages. British medical bulletin. 2008; 85 (01) 113-126.