Acceptance of Information and Communication Technology by the Elderly People Living in Tehran

• Main Authors: Mehdi Basakha, Seyed Hossein Mohaqeqi Kamal, Hakimeh Pashazadeh
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: University of Social Welfare & Rehabilitation Sciences 2019-04-01
• Series: Sālmand
• Subjects: Information technology; Self-help devices; Internet; Aging
• Online Access: http://salmandj.uswr.ac.ir/article-1-1657-en.html

Objectives Nowadays, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provides a potential opportunity for communities by changing the concept of distance. Despite the development of communication and information tools and their widespread use, the statistics indicate a digital gap and very low use of these tools by the Iranian elderly. This study aimed to investigate the status of acceptance of ICT and its related factors by elderly people living in Tehran City, Iran. Methods & Materials The cross-sectional study was conducted in summer 2018. A sample of 330 elderly people living in Tehran was selected by multistage sampling method. All obtained data were analyzed by the Shapiro-Wilk test, point biserial correlation test, the Spearman correlation test, and the Pearson correlation test in SPSS 21.  Results Most participants belonged to the age range of 60 to 70 years (61%), were men (67%), married (85.5%), and had a diploma or lower education (72.5%). The results show that the most popular ICT among the elderly were watching TV, talking on the phone, and readings news, while sending and receiving emails was the least popular one. The Mean±SD technology acceptance score among the elderly was 3.15±0.75 which was above its theoretical average (score 3). The most important barriers of older people to accept ICT was "lack of interest", "feeling no need", and "lack of familiarity with the ICT tools". Acceptance of technology has been strongly associated with education (r=0.325, P<0.001), age (r=0.236, P<0.001), and available time to use ICT tools (r=0.528, P<0.001). In addition, the acceptance of technology has not been significantly correlated with the general health status of the elderly and their economic situation. Conclusion The technology acceptance status of older people in Tehran was higher than average and the intention to use ICT tools was significant among them. But the difficulty in using some of these tools has been one of the most important limitations in adopting ICT technologies. Additionally, the adoption of technology among the elderly is not influenced by their economic situation or the health status, and therefore all groups of the elderly can be considered target groups to enhance their ability to use ICT tools.