Diet and Activity Assessments and Interventions Using Technology in Older Adults

Abstract

This paper reports on the findings and recommendations specific to older adults from the "Tech Summit: Innovative Tools for Assessing Diet and Physical Activity for Health Promotion" forum organized by the North American branch of the International Life Sciences Institute. The summit aimed to investigate current and emerging challenges related to improving energy balance behavior assessment and intervention via technology. The current manuscript focuses on how novel technologies are applied in older adult populations and enumerated the barriers and facilitators to using technology within this population. Given the multiple applications for technology in this population, including the ability to monitor health events and behaviors in real time, technology presents an innovative method to aid with the changes associated with aging. Although older adults are often perceived as lacking interest in and ability to adopt technologies, recent studies show they are comfortable adopting technology and user uptake is high with proper training and guided facilitation. Finally, the conclusions suggest recommendations for future research, including the need for larger trials with clinical outcomes and more research using end-user design that includes older adults as technology partners who are part of the design process.Theme information: This article is part of a theme issue entitled Innovative Tools for Assessing Diet and Physical Activity for Health Promotion, which is sponsored by the North American branch of the International Life Sciences Institute.

Exercising with Baxter: preliminary support for assistive social-physical human-robot interaction

“…A survey of robots that support the independent living of older adults found that there has been a rapid evolution of technology in this area, and that most studies to date have been conducted in laboratories and hospital settings [30]. Another review paper found evidence that socially assistive robots can enhance the well-being of older adults while reducing the workload for caregivers [31], and other work suggests that older adults can adopt new technologies to support better diet and physical activity practices given proper training and guidance [32]. Past ethnographic research provides best practices for introducing a robot into an assisted living facility while also presenting evidence that older adults accepted the robot into the community [33].…”

Technology Innovations in Dietary Intake and Physical Activity Assessment: Challenges and Recommendations for Future Directions

“…The forum resulted in expert review papers on technology innovations in three age cohorts that are published concurrently with this commentary: "Advances and Controversies in Diet and Physical Activity Measurement in Youth" 12 ; "Dietary Intake and Physical Activity Assessment: Current Tools, Techniques, and Technologies for Use in Adult Populations" 13 ; and "Diet and Physical Activity Assessment and Interventions Using Technology in Special Populations: Older Adults." 14…”

Older Adults’ Engagement in Technology‐Mediated Self‐Monitoring of Diet: A Mixed‐Method Study

“…In the same vein, we found that the older adults appreciated opportunities to access information on the Internet and to keep in touch with family. Although use of digital technology and the Internet has increased sharply among older adults in Norway, where 65% of older adults 71 to 80 years of age used the Internet daily in 2018, their adoption of health‐related technologies may still depend on their perceptions of the technology as relevant and useful (Slettemeås et al, 2018; Takemoto et al, 2018). Poor usability experiences (e.g., where entering data is considered to be cumbersome) can negatively influence the sustained use of digital health technology (Wildenbos et al, 2018).…”

“…Poor usability experiences (e.g., where entering data is considered to be cumbersome) can negatively influence the sustained use of digital health technology (Wildenbos et al, 2018). Older adults can therefore benefit from technology developed especially for their needs regarding both user interface and content (Takemoto et al, 2018). In this way, digital health can be a gateway to technology use for inexperienced users.…”

“…There are numerus commercial apps for self‐assessment of diet; however, these apps are less appropriate for targeting undernutrition among older adults because they thematically focus on weight loss, require detailed food and beverage recording, and tend to have complex user interfaces (Hingle & Patrick, 2016). Poor usability experiences are a major barrier for technology adoption among older adults (Takemoto et al, 2018; Wildenbos, Peute, & Jaspers, 2018). Through a literature search, we identified four studies that developed and tested technological self‐assessment solutions, such as apps, to target the explicit challenge of undernutrition among home‐dwelling older adults (Astell et al, 2014; Kraft et al, 2012; Lindhardt & Nielsen, 2017; van Doorn‐van Atten, Haveman‐Nies, Heery, de Vries, & de Groot, 2018).…”