Home // eTELEMED 2014, The Sixth International Conference on eHealth, Telemedicine, and Social Medicine // View article
Authors:
Ismo Alakärppä
Elisa Jaakkola
Kirsi Päykkönen
Jaana Väntänen
Keywords: elderly; social media; user experience
Abstract:
In the spring of 2013, we conducted a qualitative field study where elderly people, their relatives, and volunteering friends used a new social media application (Comcare) that runs in an Android tablet computer, for a period of two months. Comcare makes it possible to communicate with one's own social circle. In addition, it enables relatives to monitor the everyday routines of the elderly. The research material consists of five circles, each one of which includes an elderly person, his relative, and a volunteer friend. The material was gathered in eight group interviews before and after the field study, and 15 personal interviews during the testing period. This article concentrates on results of the evaluation period by reporting experiences of using the application, social support and feelings of safety.
Pages: 105 to 110
Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2014
Publication date: March 23, 2014
Published in: conference
ISSN: 2308-4359
ISBN: 978-1-61208-327-8
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Dates: from March 23, 2014 to March 27, 2014