Increasing social connections by advanced comm. tech. for older adults

Increasing social connections by advanced communication technologies for community-dwelling older adults: A mixed methods study

Many older adults suffered social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, these adults experienced a decline in physical and emotional health as well as a lack of social connections. The purpose of this proposed study is to explore what Information and Communication Technology (ICT) that community-dwelling older adults may be willing to use for communication to increase social connections. An exploratory sequential mixed methods design will be used to conduct the research. In the first stage of the qualitative approach, focus groups will be conducted to collect information on the perspectives of participants regarding their use of technology. Based on the results of thematic analysis from the first stage, we will conduct in the second stage a one group pre- and post-test quantitative approach. It is our intent that the results from this proposed study will be expanded for future research with older adults residing in long-term care settings.

Investigators at TWU

• Pei-Fen Chang
• Kai-Li Tsai
• Harriett Davidson
• Gayle Hersch

Outside Collaborators

• Jeff Feng
• Kay Brown
• Clarissa Richard

Graduate Assistants

• Matthew Reilly

Grant Funding and Agency Number

• Research Enhancement Program, Texas Woman’s University (pending approval)

Page last updated 3:23 PM, June 3, 2022