Social Image Impacting Attitudes of Middle-Aged and Elderly People toward the Usage of Walking Aids: An Empirical Investigation in Taiwan

Abstract

The elderly need the assistance of walking aids due to deterioration of their physical functions. However, they are often less willing to use these aids because of their worries about how others may think of them. Not using professional walking aids often makes elderly people fall easily when walking. This study explores the behavioral intention factors of middle-aged people (45–64 years old) and elderly people (65 years and older) that affect the use of walking aids. Based on the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), subjective norms, attitude toward usage, behavior intention, safety, and usefulness were combined with social image to establish the research framework. This study used questionnaire surveys both in paper form assisted by volunteers and in online electronic form. A total of 457 questionnaires were collected. Data analysis was carried out in three stages: descriptive analysis, measurement model verification, and structural equation model analysis. The results showed that social image had a significant impact on the attitude toward using walking aids. Factors such as attitude toward usage, subjective norms, and safety of walking aids also had a significant positive impact on behavioral intention. Finally, through the research results, some suggestions are proposed for stakeholders to improve the elderly’s concerns about the social image of using walking aids.

Predicting Older Adults’ Mobile Payment Adoption: An Extended TAM Model

“…For instance, when older adults see more people use M-payment technology and it has higher observability, they will develop positive attitudes toward using the technology. However, image did not appear to have a significant effect on attitude, a finding that differs from that of several previous studies [33,36]. Thus, this study suggests that image may not influence attitude because older adults tend to ignore the effects of social pressure, image, and social status and are only inclined to pursue more emotionally meaningful goals [84].…”

“…Noteworthily, negative images can also produce negative attitudes. For instance, Huang and Chang studied the intentions of older adults to use a walker and found that most of the older adults in their study felt that their personal image was damaged as a result of using the technology, resulting in a significant negative effect on their attitudes toward using it [36]. Therefore, this study argues that enhanced image after older adults receive attention and admiration from their peers or others for using M-payment during transactions reinforces their attitudes toward M-payment.…”

Effects of Nordic walking on muscle activation and stride length of middle-aged women

“…Approximately 50% of the human muscles are in the upper body, and the primary focus of Nordic walking is on exercising the upper body muscles. With each step, people push off with the poles (in opposite directions) to work and tighten the arm muscles, abdomen, back, and chest muscles, thereby performing a full-body exercise (Huang, 2016).…”

The Relationship between Intended Learning Outcomes and the Attainment of Graduate Competence among Cross-border E-commerce Learners: The chain mediating roles of project-based learning and assessment strategies

“…Field (2009) asserts that a Cronbach's alpha value exceeding 0.7 indicates satisfactory reliability of measurement items. Additionally, factor loading, composite reliability (CR), and average variance extracted (AVE) are commonly employed to assess convergent validity (Chen & Liu, 2019;Huang & Chang, 2020;Jo, 2023). Hair et al (2019) suggest that factor loadings above 0.5 are considered significant, while values below 0.45 may warrant item deletion (Hooper et al, 2008).…”