The Future of Educating Older Adults

The Challenges of Health Literacy and Technology

SeniorLink – an all-inclusive program

Mission is to help older adults eligible for nursing home to live in the community

Provide services that address needs: medical rehabilitative social personal care

through interdisciplinary team

Education at SeniorLinkMost are low-income and/or poorly

educatedNo specific resources allocated to

educationTechnology limited to Wii games and

computer use for basic puzzle games and email

Biggest obstacles to learning are motivation and basic ability to learn

Older adult education – literature review

Impact of history – Older Americans Act of 1965 -> senior

center demographics – impact of Baby Boomers differences when compared to young people future directions of technology

Older adult education – literature review

Technology – cont’d

With time and one-on-one teaching, older adults can be taught to use technology (Lagan, 2011)

Racial/ethnic minority, poorly educated and low-income

much less likely to use technology resulting in

Worsening of gap in health literacy – (Kim et al, 2009)

Futuring – Improving Health Literacy at SL

• Possible Scenario

Futuring – Effect of Health Literacy on SL

Scanning technique

Vision for SeniorLink

All written and online materials written at 5th grade

level Dedicated personnel for improving health literacy Dedicated personnel to teach use of

computer/technology one-on-one instruction, collaboration as possible

Facilities that embrace technology geared for older adults

Activities with focus on skill replace passive learning

Challenges and Opportunities

ChallengesFunding, funding, fundingDonated services, volunteer poolChanging staff behaviorPressure to go “fee for service” as Baby Boomers flood market

OpportunitiesMake a difference Increased confidence, self-efficacy, skillsBetter healthDecrease health literacy gap

Preparing for scenario

Futuring – other PACE sites, state funding Find outside funding sources Donated servies, volunteer pool Staff training

“Call To ACTION!”

Futuring committee - trained in futuring How to make SeniorLink desirable in future? How to best serve current and future needs of clients?

Education committee All educational materials at 5th grade level Internet search for health sites at 5th grade level

References

• Bouck, C. (2013). The future of active-aging centers. The Journal of Active Aging, June(Special Collector's Edition), 46-51

• Dinitto, D. M., & Eysenbach, G. (2013). The Digital Divide Among Low-Income Homebound Older Adults: Internet Use Patterns, eHealth Literacy, and Attitudes Toward Computer/Internet Use. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 15(5), 1-1.

• Khusainov, R., Azzi, D., Achumba, I. E., & Bersch, S. D. (2013). Real-time human ambulation, activity, and physiological monitoring: taxonomy of issues, techniques, applications, challenges and limitations. Sensors (Basel), 13(10), 12852-12902. doi: 10.3390/s131012852

• Kim, E.-H., Stolyar, A., Lober, B. W., Herbaugh, L. A., Shinstrom, E. S., Zierler, K. B., Kim, Y. (2009). Challenges to Using an Electronic Personal Health Record by a Low-Income Elderly Population. J Med Internet Res, 11(4), e44.

• LaganÁ, L., Oliver, T., Ainsworth, A., & Edwards, M. (2011). Enhancing computer self-efficacy and attitudes in multi-ethnic older adults: a randomised controlled study. Ageing & Society, 31(6), 911-933. doi: 10.1017/S0144686X10001340

• Wiemeyer, J., & Kliem, A. (2011). Serious games in prevention and rehabilitation—a new panacea for elderly people? European Review of Aging and Physical Activity, 9(1), 41-50. doi: 10.1007/s11556-011-0093-x