Design guidelines and checklists are suggested as a useful tool in the development and evaluation of interface design of mobile phones for older adults. Thus, this study explores the usability dimensions of mobile phone design for older adults and the related changes in terms of time and the type of device (feature phones vs. smartphones) based on an expert coding of the eight mobile phone design guidelines and checklists for older adults published between 2006 and 2014. The results of the expert coding show that design guidelines and checklists most frequently deal with visual and haptic issues (e.g., high contrast, button type, and button size), whilst they hardly ever address various elements of textual interface (e.g., ease of text entry, a button's feedback, and font type). Over time, the design guidelines and checklists have become more complex in terms of the average number of included usability categories and dimensions. For smartphones, the guidelines, on average, put more emphasis on the screen, touchscreen, text, and exterior related issues, whereas the design guidelines for feature phones stress the usability of the keypad and menus. Besides revealing potential usability dimensions that could be further expanded in the guidelines, this study also highlights the need for conceptual and emprical advancement in researching ergonomic and usability dimensons of other small-screen mobile devices such tablets and wearables that are use in telecare and telehealth applications for monitoring daily activites and measuring vital signs.
COBISS.SI-ID: 35061597
With the closing of the age-related gap in mobile phone uptake and the aging of the population, older adults have increasingly become a desirable target group for mobile phone providers. Although there is abundant literature describing the use of mobile phones among older adults, segmentation studies on this group of consumers remain scant and inconclusive. Drawing on the benefit and behavioral segmentation, this study presents a segmentation model of older adults in the mobile phone market that incorporates a wide variety of consumer behavior, attitudinal, and acceptance variables relevant for the understanding of mobile phone (non-)usage patterns among users of feature phones and smartphones, as well as among mobile phone nonusers. The model is based on a hybrid approach with a two-step cluster analysis using data collected by a telephone survey from a representative sample (n = 1,581) of adults aged 55 or older in Slovenia in 2015. The analysis yielded two uniquely profiled clusters within each of the five a priori-determined segments, summing to a total of 10 clusters. The results show that older adults still prefer feature phones. Nevertheless, the mobile phone market has become highly heterogeneous, with clusters of older adults having distinguishable feature phone- and smartphone-use patterns as well as socio-demographic and life-course profiles. Since many of these profiles undermine the notion of older adults as "basic" mobile phone users, our findings represent a solid foundation for scholars and marketers to further investigate their specific needs in relation to more advanced smartphone and mobile internet usage.
COBISS.SI-ID: 35275869
This study explored how the composition of older adults' social companionship networks is related to the frequency of landline and mobile phone communication with their network members. In addition, the study examined the association between landline and mobile phone communication as well as their relationship with inperson communication in such networks. The survey data were gathered using an ego-centered social support approach in a nationwide representative sample of retired older adults in Slovenia. The results of multiple regression analyses revealed that the composition of a social companionship network better predicts the frequency of landline rather than mobile phone communication of older adults with their network members. The non-significant relationship between the frequency of landline and mobile phone communication suggested that the two technologies very likely have a different role in the maintenance of social companionship networks. The study also found a difference between the importance of control variables related to the sociodemographic characteristics of older adults for the frequency of landline and mobile phone communication. While age, education, and living alone significantly predicted the frequency of mobile communication with older adults' network members, significant predictors of their landline communication included gender and health impairments.
COBISS.SI-ID: 33921629
Smartphones are expected to play an important role in augmenting active and healthy ageing by integrating various assistive technologies (ATs). This paper outlines prior literature about design guidelines for smartphone user interfaces (UI) for older adults and reports on the results of usability testing of eight built-in features and ATs of GoLivePhone in an attempt to evaluate usability problems in the design of smartphone launchers with an adapted UI for older adults. The findings indicate a generally adequate performance of the GoLivePhone UI in terms of quantitative usability metrics, suggesting that the performance of a launcher UI is not determined by the type of service (basic features vs. ATs), but rather by the design of UI. In addition, the examination of participants’ errors revealed two aspects of UI usability optimization for launchers. First, wrong-action errors often occur because of a non-optimal fit between mental models familiar to older adults and the structure of the UI. Second, multiscreen navigation can be beneficial for older adults only if the layout of the UI elements is applied consistently and multiple entry fields are avoided on the same screen.
COBISS.SI-ID: 33956701
Mobile phones have gained an important role in the personal communication of older adults with the members of their social support networks. Research shows that older adults increasingly use the mobile phone for maintenance and development of social interactions with their family members, peers, and caregivers as providers of emotional support and social companionship. Therefore, this study explores how retired older adults in Slovenia use mobile phones as personal devices for supportive communication as well as how the characteristics of their social support networks are relatedto the frequency of mobile phone communication with their network members. Using ego-centered social support network data, collected on a nationwide representative sample of retired older adults in Slovenia, this study found that the composition of emotional support and social companionship networks scarcely predict the frequency of mobile phone communication of older adults with their network members. Conversely, according to the results, it seems that more frequent inperson and landline phone communication with network members are positively associated with mobile phone communication, suggesting that older adults extend their communication sphere with a mobile phone in their support networks. Finally, the results indicate that sociodemographic characteristics of older adults, such as age, socialeconomic status, and living alone, significantly determine the frequency of mobile communication with their network members, even though their magnitude varies depending on the type of social support network.
COBISS.SI-ID: 33244509