Technology Use and Monitoring Preferences in Older Adults: Implications for Passive Remote Monitoring

TL;DR

Older adults use technology for daily tasks and are generally open to being monitored for signs of cognitive decline.

Contribution

This study explores technology use and monitoring preferences in older adults, providing insights into the acceptability of passive remote monitoring.

Findings

Most older adults use smartphones for texting, calls, and photos, but fewer use them for health monitoring or games.

Older adults are more open to monitoring mobility and phone usage than app use or GPS location.

There is no significant difference in monitoring openness based on age or gender.

Abstract

Rising Alzheimer’s disease (AD) rates necessitate better detection of early behavioral changes. Passive remote monitoring (PRM), technology using sensor-based data to monitor behavior, can describe a person’s day-to-day functioning. Acceptability of PRM among older adults remains uncertain. We investigated older adults’ use of technology and their openness to monitoring of technology use using a 25-30-minute online survey regarding current technology use and openness to PRM of technology use. Participants were 171 older adults with normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment (mean age=56, 66% Female, 29% White, 28% Black/African American, 18% Latinx, 22% Asian, 3% Mixed/Other Race) .Most respondents reported using smartphones for: texting (95.9%), calls (95.3%), camera/photos (94.2%) and e-mail (90.6%). Fewer respondents reported using phones for games (60.2%), health monitoring (60.2%) or digital assistance (38%). Females used GPS more than males (p < .05). Young-old adults (age < 55) used applications for organization, digital assistance, e-mail, social media, and health tools more than Old-older adults. Most of the sample reported openness to monitoring of: mobility (86%), overall time spent on phone (80.1%) and speed/errors in typing (76.6%). Respondents were less open to PRM of app use type (69%), GPS location (63.8%) and number of incoming/outgoing calls (61.9%). No significant differences emerged regarding openness to monitoring based on age or gender (p>.05). These results demonstrate that older adults use technology for a range of daily tasks, indicating that PRM may be acceptable in this population. Older adults also may be willing to have some tasks monitored to detect cognitive impairment.