Use of electrodomestics by the elderly: information adequacy

• Main Authors: Luciana Aparecida de Oliveira, Amelia Carla Sobrinho Bifano
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Estadual Paulista 2014-06-01
• Series: GEPROS: Gestão da Produção, Operações e Sistemas
• Subjects: Standards ISOs. Manuals. Products.
• Online Access: http://revista.feb.unesp.br/index.php/gepros/article/view/1140/541

This study sought to evaluate the suitability of the information provided by the instruction manuals of microwaves, and the level of understanding by eldely users about safe use of the product. The procedures used were the analysis of information from five microwave manuals of different brands using the criteria recommended by the standards: ISOGUIDE 37 and ISO 2145 and selection of terms and words that raise questions in that evaluation to investigate the understanding of these by the elderly. The manuals were analyzed from the items presented in the standards that would be appropriate to the product in evaluation, and the adequacy of the information has been reviewed as “meet”, “does not meet” and “partially meet”. The results indicate that the instruction manuals of microwave ovens feature non-compliance in relation to: the structure of the manual, structure of writing, readability and general principles. Regarding the meaning of terms and words, the results showed differences between the meanings printed by manufacturers and users understanding. The lack of attention to the rules and of knowledge about the users, leads to manuals with grammatical mistakes, different titles in the index and in the manual, use of complex terms and words in english, small font size, extensive text, inconsistency between informations in the manual and in the product, among others.