A rapid review of the effectiveness of interventions for addressing digital exclusion in older adults

Background and Context

Older adults are the largest group of people who don’t use the internet but more and more health and social care services are going on-line. It’s important to understand how to support older adults so that they can make the most of the digital world.

Digital exclusion might be due to not having access to the internet, or not knowing how to get connected or being unable to afford the internet.

Aims

This review wanted to see how effective current actions have been in supporting older adults in accessing the internet for their care needs.

Methods

The research looked at lots of different studies from around the world. All of the studies provided some training for older adults to help them improve their digital skills.  Some of the studies looked at younger people helping older adults, some used special software and some even used a game.

After taking part in these studies some older adults started to use, or got better at, using the internet. Others also became more confident in going on-line.

Results

A range of evidence was produced from the studies which were looked at.  Broadly speaking this seemed to demonstrate that the older adults who took part in the studies were in favour of their involvement. 

Looking closely at the results of the studies showed there wasn’t much evidence to suggest that the support given to older adults using traditional activities led to an increase in their use of on-line technology.

There was weak evidence to show that activities using games, support from younger people and special software actually improved digital ability, confidence or acceptance of technology. The evidence of cost effectiveness was also very uncertain.   

Most of the studies included in the review were of low quality and, as some of them were not conducted in the UK, they may not be relevant for us. There were limited studies that considered cost effectiveness.  No studies looked at language barriers or access to and affordability of the internet.

Further UK based research would be beneficial to understand the effectiveness, including cost, of interventions to improve digital exclusion in older adults.

Policy and Practice Implications

This rapid review did show some possible benefits of education in improving digital ‘literacy’ and acceptance of technology from older adults. However, to reduce digital exclusion in older adults it may be important to remove barriers like access to the internet and affordability of devices.

Education may help to reduce lack of confidence and worry over older people’s ability to use digital technologies.

It is important to consider that older adults should have the choice to interact with essential services physically (offline) or digitally. With the increasing digitalisation of services, it is important that older members of the community who do not wish to use digital technologies, are not left behind.

Author: Mel McAulay

The full report can be found here.