The findings indicate that a health monitoring system designed for older adults can and will be used for an extended period of time and may help older adults with chronic conditions reside longer in their own homes in partnership with the healthcare system.

Healthcare delivered at home via telehealth technology may save on both individual and societal healthcare costs. Three studies investigated potential attitudinal barriers to home healthcare adoption. Results from the first concerning adults’ privacy concerns and mobile device preferences showed that attitudes clustered into 4 factors and that older adults, particularly males, showed less concern than younger adults about privacy. The second and third studies explored comfort with a wearable device and the role of aesthetics over 2-week and 6-month intervals. Results showed that older adults had stable ratings for comfort while wearing a watch device designed to collect data in real time and that aspects of physical comfort predicted use over a six-month time period. Taken together, the studies provide evidence that attitudes about privacy and comfort for wearable health devices are unlikely to be significant barriers to adoption, though first impressions are important for all age groups.

This study examined how age, depressive symptoms, demographic variables, frailty, and health factors jointly influence episodic memory across the lifespan in two large, diverse samples. Hierarchical regression analyses from both samples showed that depressive symptoms negatively impacted episodic memory performance with the effect being more pronounced for older adults. Health and frailty tended not to be associated with episodic memory. However, the main effect of depressive symptoms tended to remain significant over and above other predictors, while the interaction with age was weakened with the addition of demographic variables. The unique contribution of this study is demonstrating that the relationship between depressive symptoms and episodic memory is moderated by age across relatively large non-clinical lifespan samples of adults. The findings indicate the importance of measuring and studying depressive symptoms during the course of aging in order to better understand the complex relationship between age, affect, physical functioning, and memory.

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from taking full advantage of the potential of technology. The Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE) is dedicated to understanding and overcoming barriers to technology use so these benefits can be realized by everyone, regardless of age. This symposium will focus on technology to support older adults and factors related to older adult technology use and adoption in a variety of contexts. W. Rogers will present an overview of older adult technology use derived from representative U.S. samples and important factors influencing technology adoption. W. Boot will discuss the critical role of technology proficiency in adoption and how to quickly and easily assess proficiency with respect to desktop and tablet-based computers in older adult samples. In the domain of work, J. Sharit will discuss the implications of rapid changes in technology for older workers, and the promises and pitfalls of technology in the workplace. In the domain of medicine, N. Charness will present studies related to the successful adoption of telehealth devices in different populations (healthy older adults and older adults with heart failure). S. Czaja will present CREATE data related to the potential of technology to support social engagement and support for older adults at risk for social isolation. Discussant C. Quinn will highlight common themes across talks and provide additional insight into the potential of technology. Older adults, as a group, tend to be slower than younger adults to adopt new technologies. These differences are well illustrated in the Pew data sets, which we will summarize briefly. However, within each age group, there are individual differences in rates of adoption. We will provide an overview of the factors that predict technology adoption early (i.e., related to perceptions of ease of use or usefulness) as well as over time. The PRISM trial provided a unique opportunity to assess predictors of use over the course of one year. We will present these data, as well as other examples, to identify predictors of technology adoption across and within age groups. Understanding these individual and age-related differences can provide guidance for the deployment of new technologies that may be beneficial to users in terms of health benefits, social interaction, or cognitive engagement. Older adults with low technology experience may not have the proficiency to take advantage of technology to support wellbeing, independence, and productivity. Low proficiency may then reinforce the decision not to adopt technology. This talk will discuss the critical role of technology proficiency with respect to adoption and how to measure proficiency across common computing platforms (desktop and tablet computers). Data from two large intervention studies will explore the proficiency of socially isolated older adults and how proficiency relates to previous and subsequent technology use. New brief measures of proficiency designed for research and training purposes will be highlighted. UNDERSTANDING IND...