Personalizing health-related ICT interface and application: older adults and elderly caregivers preferences

Despite potential for preventing social isolation and loneliness, providing health care access and other benefits, older persons tend to be less receptive to digital devices. Elderly people frequently appoint complex interface and perceived usefulness as cause for not using health-related ICT. There is little information about preferences and interests of this specific population for tailored and customized technology, but according to the current literature; older users and caregivers both think that accessible and interactive design is the main aspiration. Besides that, they consider important some functionalities, especially for social interactions purposes. This study was conducted to address the interest, preferences and problems with an application for personalizing the tablet; with health older adults and social networking of dependent elderly individuals and to propose a new design for it. After using a skin app prototype, the 35 volunteers from 3 groups (independent older adults, informal and for- mal caregivers) were interviewed in order to suggest changes and help us to propose a new design for an Android skin. The main findings were analyzed according to interface and functionalities preferences in order to develop the concept to a new application. The prototype is called ANNI, available at Google Play Store.