scholarly journals Digital Health Coaching Programs Among Older Employees in Transition to Retirement: Systematic Literature Review

10.2196/17809 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. e17809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Stara ◽  
Sara Santini ◽  
Johannes Kropf ◽  
Barbara D'Amen
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Coaching ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
Older Employees ◽  
User Centered

Background The rapid increase of the aging population is pushing many national governments to reshape retirement legislation in order to extend older adults’ working life. Once retired, older adults can be invaluable resources for the community as family carers, as volunteers, or by returning to work. Healthy aging is one of the main conditions for being able to work longer and being active after retirement. The latter, indeed, represents a very sensitive life transition, which can entail psychological and social difficulties. Interventions for promoting older workers’ health and well-being and supporting the transition to retirement are on the top of the policy agenda of most European countries. Recently, computer-based and digital health interventions have been seen as promising means to reach this purpose. Objective This systematic literature review aimed to explore studies on digital health coaching programs for older workers that followed a user-centered design approach and evaluated their effectiveness in providing older adults with guidance for adopting a healthy lifestyle and being active in the community. Methods The search identified 1931 papers, and 2 relevant articles were selected by applying specific eligibility criteria. Results To our knowledge, only few digital health coaching programs have targeted the population of older workers to date; there is an insufficient number of studies on the efficacy of such programs. The results show the difficulties of assessing the efficacy of digital coaching itself and with respect to older employees. The 2 studies suggest that digital health programs for workplaces can improve various aspects of older employees’ well-being; however, they considered health mainly from a physical perspective and neglected contextual, social, psychological, and cultural factors that can influence older workers’ health and general well-being. Future digital health coaching programs should adopt the healthy aging paradigm as a multidimensional lens for interpreting the impact of eHealth technology on aging and retirement. The literature around this issue remains at an embryonic state, and this gap needs to be filled by further investigations that apply a user-centered approach for designing the technology, test innovative research methodologies, and adopt new technical solutions for high-quality interaction design. Conclusions Further digital health coaching programs aimed at supporting healthy and active living for older workers and retirees are necessary. The user-centered design approach is recommended in order to fully address the users’ health needs and the technological requirements throughout development. Moreover, the healthy aging perspective allows inclusion of physical, social, and psychological factors influencing the transition from work to retirement, as well as the experiences and interactions of individuals with the technology.

scholarly journals Digital Health Coaching Programs Among Older Employees in Transition to Retirement: Systematic Literature Review (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Stara ◽  
Sara Santini ◽  
Johannes Kropf ◽  
Barbara D'Amen
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Coaching ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
Older Employees ◽  
User Centered

BACKGROUND The rapid increase of the aging population is pushing many national governments to reshape retirement legislation in order to extend older adults’ working life. Once retired, older adults can be invaluable resources for the community as family carers, as volunteers, or by returning to work. Healthy aging is one of the main conditions for being able to work longer and being active after retirement. The latter, indeed, represents a very sensitive life transition, which can entail psychological and social difficulties. Interventions for promoting older workers’ health and well-being and supporting the transition to retirement are on the top of the policy agenda of most European countries. Recently, computer-based and digital health interventions have been seen as promising means to reach this purpose. OBJECTIVE This systematic literature review aimed to explore studies on digital health coaching programs for older workers that followed a user-centered design approach and evaluated their effectiveness in providing older adults with guidance for adopting a healthy lifestyle and being active in the community. METHODS The search identified 1931 papers, and 2 relevant articles were selected by applying specific eligibility criteria. RESULTS To our knowledge, only few digital health coaching programs have targeted the population of older workers to date; there is an insufficient number of studies on the efficacy of such programs. The results show the difficulties of assessing the efficacy of digital coaching itself and with respect to older employees. The 2 studies suggest that digital health programs for workplaces can improve various aspects of older employees’ well-being; however, they considered health mainly from a physical perspective and neglected contextual, social, psychological, and cultural factors that can influence older workers’ health and general well-being. Future digital health coaching programs should adopt the healthy aging paradigm as a multidimensional lens for interpreting the impact of eHealth technology on aging and retirement. The literature around this issue remains at an embryonic state, and this gap needs to be filled by further investigations that apply a user-centered approach for designing the technology, test innovative research methodologies, and adopt new technical solutions for high-quality interaction design. CONCLUSIONS Further digital health coaching programs aimed at supporting healthy and active living for older workers and retirees are necessary. The user-centered design approach is recommended in order to fully address the users’ health needs and the technological requirements throughout development. Moreover, the healthy aging perspective allows inclusion of physical, social, and psychological factors influencing the transition from work to retirement, as well as the experiences and interactions of individuals with the technology.

scholarly journals Correction: Digital Health Coaching Programs Among Older Employees in Transition to Retirement: Systematic Literature Review (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vera Stara ◽  
Sara Santini ◽  
Johannes Kropf ◽  
Barbara D'Amen
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Coaching ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
Older Employees ◽  
User Centered

UNSTRUCTURED The rapid increase of the aging population is pushing many national governments to reshape retirement legislation in order to extend older adults’ working life. Once retired, older adults can be invaluable resources for the community as family carers, as volunteers, or by returning to work. Healthy aging is one of the main conditions for being able to work longer and being active after retirement. The latter, indeed, represents a very sensitive life transition, which can entail psychological and social difficulties. Interventions for promoting older workers’ health and well-being and supporting the transition to retirement are on the top of the policy agenda of most European countries. Recently, computer-based and digital health interventions have been seen as promising means to reach this purpose. This systematic literature review aimed to explore studies on digital health coaching programs for older workers that followed a user-centered design approach and evaluated their effectiveness in providing older adults with guidance for adopting a healthy lifestyle and being active in the community. The search identified 1931 papers, and 2 relevant articles were selected by applying specific eligibility criteria. To our knowledge, only few digital health coaching programs have targeted the population of older workers to date; there is an insufficient number of studies on the efficacy of such programs. The results show the difficulties of assessing the efficacy of digital coaching itself and with respect to older employees. The 2 studies suggest that digital health programs for workplaces can improve various aspects of older employees’ well-being; however, they considered health mainly from a physical perspective and neglected contextual, social, psychological, and cultural factors that can influence older workers’ health and general well-being. Future digital health coaching programs should adopt the healthy aging paradigm as a multidimensional lens for interpreting the impact of eHealth technology on aging and retirement. The literature around this issue remains at an embryonic state, and this gap needs to be filled by further investigations that apply a user-centered approach for designing the technology, test innovative research methodologies, and adopt new technical solutions for high-quality interaction design. Further digital health coaching programs aimed at supporting healthy and active living for older workers and retirees are necessary. The user-centered design approach is recommended in order to fully address the users’ health needs and the technological requirements throughout development. Moreover, the healthy aging perspective allows inclusion of physical, social, and psychological factors influencing the transition from work to retirement, as well as the experiences and interactions of individuals with the technology. J Med Internet Res 2020;22(9):e17809

scholarly journals A Digital Coach Promoting Healthy Aging among Older Adults in Transition to Retirement: Results from a Qualitative Study in Italy

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7400
Author(s):  
Sara Santini ◽  
Flavia Galassi ◽  
Johannes Kropf ◽  
Vera Stara
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Health Coaching ◽  
Health Determinants ◽  
Health Coach ◽  
Transition To Retirement

Global aging and increasing multimorbidity are questioning the sustainability of healthcare systems. Healthy aging is at the top of the world political agenda, as a possible means for hindering the collapse of care systems. In the aging process, the transition to retirement can lead to an improvement or a deterioration of physical and psychological health. Digital health coaching technology can support older adults at this stage, but what must be the role of such a solution in promoting healthy aging and shaping sustainable care? This qualitative study, carried out in Italy in 2019, involved 15 older workers, retirees, and colleagues. Based on a user-centered design approach, this study aims at gathering older adults’ feelings on a digital health coaching technology for exploring this solution’s potential in promoting healthy aging. Findings highlighted that the digital health coach may help older adults improve several health determinants, e.g., physical activity, cognitive capabilities, and social life, but it can also entail the risk of stigma and break people’s privacy. The latter can be guaranteed by technology customization and codesign. Further research on the digital health coach benefits to boost healthy aging is needed to understand its potential for shaping future sustainable healthcare.

User requirements analysis of an Embodied Conversational Agent for coaching older adults to choose active and healthy ageing behaviors during the transition to retirement: a cross-national User Centered Design study (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Santini ◽  
Vera Stara ◽  
Flavia Galassi ◽  
Alessandra Merizzi ◽  
Cornelia Schneider ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Older Workers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
End Users ◽  
Healthy Ageing ◽  
Conversational Agent ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
Embodied Conversational Agent ◽  
Virtual Coaching ◽  
Active And Healthy Ageing

BACKGROUND The ageing worldwide population involves an increase of multiple chronic diseases and the consequent demand for healthcare services by older people, thus challenging the healthcare systems’ sustainability and older people’s quality of life. In order to postpone older adults’ need for care, the promotion of healthy ageing is a key action that can be favored today by embodied conversational agents. Nevertheless, the role and benefit of this technology is still relatively ignored by the literature, especially when being applied to older workers and new retirees, and from a preventive perspective. OBJECTIVE This study wants to answer two research questions: 1) What are the user requirements of a virtual coaching based on an Embodied Conversational Agent for motivating older adults in transition to retirement to adopt a healthy lifestyle? 2) How could a virtual coaching system address the active and healthy ageing dimensions, especially during COVID-19 times? METHODS To answer the questions above, according to the User Centered Design approach, two-wave cross-national focus-groups with 60 end-users aged 55 and over and follow-up telephone interviews to 27 end-users were carried out in Austria, Italy and the Netherland between Spring 2019 and January 2021. Qualitative data were analysed through the Framework Analysis in order to highlight cross-country commonalities and national peculiarities. RESULTS End-users suggest the virtual coach motivates older workers and retirees to practice physical activity, maintain social contacts and provide them with practical activities to improve their mental and emotional well-being. It can be used every day based on users’ time, mood, family relationships and social condition. The embodied conversational agent should be reactive, customizable, expected to be expressive, sympathetic, not directive nor patronizing and its language should be appropriate, pleasant and motivating. The COVID-19 outbreak accelerated the acceptance of the system by increasing the users’ need for functions that boost community, physical and emotional well-being activities. CONCLUSIONS The study shows that the virtual coaching system can be one of the solutions that can best address the active and healthy ageing dimensions by suggesting activities that can improve individuals’ physical activity, mental well-being and socialisation. especially in the current worldwide epidemiological situation. Nevertheless, to be fully effective, it has to have a pleasant appearance and voice to motivate users without being patronising nor directive. Moreover, it should be customisable, yet non stigmatising, and should be able to adapt to the ageing process and to the evolution of the retirement transition.

scholarly journals User-centered Rating of Well-being in Older Adults

IEEE Access ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
Nuno Rodrigues ◽  
Antonio Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Well Being ◽  
User Centered

scholarly journals A Qualitative Study toward Technologies for Active and Healthy Aging: A Thematic Analysis of Perspectives among Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary End Users

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (14) ◽  
pp. 7489
Author(s):  
Margherita Rampioni ◽  
Adrian Alexandru Moșoi ◽  
Lorena Rossi ◽  
Sorin-Aurel Moraru ◽  
Dan Rosenberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Healthy Aging ◽  
Perceived Usefulness ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
Sensing Technology ◽  
Care Systems

It is expected that, by 2050, people aged over 60 in 65 nations will constitute 30% of the total population. Healthy aging is at the top of the world political agenda as a possible means for hindering the collapse of care systems. How can ICT/sensing technology meet older people’s needs for active and healthy aging? This qualitative study carried out in Italy and Romania in 2020 involved 30 participants: older adults, caregivers, and stakeholders. Based on a user-centered design approach, this study aimed to understand which requirements of ICT/sensing technologies could match people’s needs of active and healthy aging. Findings highlighted that ICT/sensing technology needs to focus on six major themes: (1) learnability, (2) security, (3) independence, empowerment, and coaching values, (4) social isolation, (5) impact of habit, culture, and education variables, and (6) personalized solutions. These themes are consistent with the Active Aging framework and the factors that influence perceived usefulness and potential benefits among older adults. Consequently, this study shows how well-known, but still unresolved, issues affect the field of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to promote active and healthy aging. This suggests that the reinforcement of the public health system, especially considering the pandemic effect, requires a concrete and formidable effort from an interdisciplinary research network.

scholarly journals A User Centered Methodology for the Design of Smart Apparel for Older Users

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 2804
Author(s):  
Silvia Imbesi ◽  
Sofia Scataglini
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Quality Function Deployment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Comparison Method ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
Smart Clothing ◽  
Older Users ◽  
Smart Garments ◽  
General Response ◽  
User Centered

Smart clothing plays a big role to foster innovation and to. boost health and well-being, improving the quality of the life of people, especially when addressed to niche users with particular needs related to their health. Designing smart apparel, in order to monitor physical and physiological functions in older users, is a crucial asset that user centered design is exploring, balancing needs expressed by the users with technological requirements related to the design process. In this paper, the authors describe a user centered methodology for the design of smart garments based on the evaluation of users’ acceptance of smart clothing. This comparison method can be considered as similar to a simplified version of the quality function deployment tool, and is used to evaluate the general response of each garment typology to different categories of requirements, determining the propensity of the older user to the utilization of the developed product. The suggested methodology aims at introducing in the design process a tool to evaluate and compare developed solutions, reducing complexity in design processes by providing a tool for the comparison of significant solutions, correlating quantitative and qualitative factors.

Exploring the impact of public transport including free and subsidised on the physical, mental and social well-being of older adults: a literature review

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Delia Rambaldini-Gooding ◽  
Luke Molloy ◽  
Anne-Maree Parrish ◽  
Michal Strahilevitz ◽  
Rodney Clarke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Impact
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