Enhancing Connectedness Through Peer Training for Community-Dwelling Older People: A Person Centred Approach

Abstract

Social interaction and connectedness is important to the mental health and wellbeing of older people. The aim of this research study was to facilitate and increase opportunities for social connectedness for older people living in regional areas through the use of technology training. Weekly technology training sessions were conducted at a Seniors Citizen's Club with a peer trainer (an experienced, retired computer teacher) and sessions were attended not only by the six study participants, but also by other club members, with up to 15 club members participating in sessions. Data analysis involved all documents generated by the project, including the individual interviews, researcher observations of training sessions, reports from the peer trainer and weekly diaries maintained by participants. Findings demonstrated that computer training at the Senior Citizens Club helped participants build group cohesion and to form tiered connections with partners, family, and friends with whom they no longer live. When the trainer is seen as a peer, and training is person-centred, older people are more receptive to learning, exploring, and experimenting with technology. Although only six people were involved in the in-depth evaluation part of the study, voluntary training with the trainer in the absence of any funding continues even to this present time. The outcome of this research reinforces the potential for technology facilitated tiered connectivity to enhance the quality of life for older people living in regional and rural Australia.

Assistive Technology Devices for the Oldest-Old: Maintaining Independence for the Fourth Age

“…While design of technology for the elderly needs to take into account their specific requirements, training is of particular importance in assisting with their acquisition of selfconfidence and continued use of the technology. Interestingly, the elderly do not like to be taught by younger people or their children and they recommend that these training environments should be led by older adults [50].…”

A Post Publication Review of "Good Old Gamers, Good Drivers: Results from a correlational experiment among older drivers"

“…Recent work in functional declines, not related to driving, have shown that improvements can be achieved, even for the very old . Furthermore, training in computing skills has been shown to have positive effects in quality of life outcome for community-dwelling older adults, many of whom are still driving (Burmeister, Bernoth, Dietsch, & Cleary, 2016). Although we understand the reasons for choosing to research the young-old, our interest in this review particularly concerns the oldest-old, which is the focus of our research (Eustace & Burmeister, 2013;Harvie, Burmeister, & Eustace, 2014.…”

The development of assistive dementia technology that accounts for the values of those affected by its use

“…Some research suggests that due to the severity of the disease, by the time a person is hospitalised it is too late to introduce technology; and that such technology only assists if it is already familiar to the person with dementia, through prior experience with it (Alzheimer Europe 2010; Burmeister et al 2016;Teipel et al 2016). Thus, restricting value considerations to hospital situations is too narrow for the following discussion.…”