Predictors of Performance in Everyday Technology Tasks in Older Adults With and Without Mild Cognitive Impairment

Laura I. Schmidt · Hans‐Werner Wahl

54 citations0/0 files storedThe Gerontologist

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Technology Use by Older Adults Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research Older Adults Driving Studies

Abstract

Background and Objectives: The ability to use everyday technology has become a key competence for conducting activities of daily living, maintaining an autonomous life, as well as participating in society. However, studying this issue in older adults needs more attention, particularly among those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Research Design and Methods: We assessed the performance of N = 80 older adults (M = 73 years) in a range of tasks representing important life domains, i.e., using a blood pressure monitor, a mobile phone, and an eBook reader. Thirty-nine participants had been diagnosed with MCI by experienced geropsychiatrists and 41 healthy controls were matched for age, sex, and education. Standardized observation based on video-recording and coding was combined with cognitive testing and assessment of social-cognitive variables (self-efficacy, perceived obsolescence, attitudes towards technology). Results: Cognitively healthy participants outperformed those with MCI regarding completion time and errors. An interaction effect of device and study group indicated larger differences in completion time for tasks with multilayered interfaces. In hierarchical regression models, aggregated cognitive factors (fluid and memory component) predicted performance and interactions with education level emerged. Obsolescence, addressing a perceived lack of competence to cope with modern society, mediated the effect of cognitive status on performance, both regarding time (partial mediation, adj.R2 = 28%) and errors (full mediation, adj.R2 = 23%). Discussion and Implications: Findings show that social-cognitive factors contribute to differences in performance on everyday technology tasks in addition to cognitive abilities. Training programs may profit from considering respective individual resources or limitations in the cognitive, personality-related or emotional-motivational domain.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 54 citations exist upstream.

References

1989Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, and User Acceptance of Information Technology 1999Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control 2019Diffusion of Innovations 1 1997Self-efficacy: the exercise of control 2003Diffusion of innovations.2008Technology Acceptance Model 3 and a Research Agenda on Interventions 2016Handbook of the Psychology of Aging 2006Factors predicting the use of technology: Findings from the center for research and education on aging and technology enhancement (create).

Cited by

2022Digital Assistive Technology to Support Everyday Living in Community-Dwelling Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia 2022Technology use and subjective cognitive concerns in older adults 2022How Older Adults Learn ICT—Guided and Self-Regulated Learning in Individuals With and Without Disabilities 2024Factors influencing female students’ entrepreneurial intention in vocational colleges: A multi-group analysis based on household income 2021Motivation und Lernen im Alter

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.