TY - JOUR
T1 - Development and usability evaluation of VOICES
T2 - A digital health tool to identify elder mistreatment
AU - Abujarad, Fuad
AU - Ulrich, Davis
AU - Edwards, Chelsea
AU - Choo, Esther
AU - Pantalon, Michael V.
AU - Jubanyik, Karen
AU - Dziura, James
AU - D'Onofrio, Gail
AU - Gill, Thomas M.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The American Geriatrics Society
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - Background/Objectives: A major barrier for society in overcoming elder mistreatment is an inability to accurately identify victims. There are several barriers to self-reporting elder mistreatment, including fear of nursing home placement or losing autonomy or a caregiver. Existing strategies to identify elder mistreatment neglect to empower those who experience it with tools for self-reporting. In this project, we developed and evaluated the usability of VOICES, a self-administrated digital health tool that screens, educates, and motivates older adults to self-report elder mistreatment. Design: Cross-sectional study with User-Centered Design (UCD) approach. Setting: Yale School of Medicine and the Agency on Aging of South-Central Connecticut. Participants: Thirty eight community-dwelling and cognitively intact older adults aged 60 years and older, caregivers, clinicians, and social workers. Intervention: A tablet-based self-administrated digital health tool that screens, educates, and motivates older adults to self-report elder mistreatment. Measurements: Qualitative and quantitative data were obtained from: (1) focus groups participants including: feedback from open-ended discussion, demographics, and a post-session survey; (2) usability evaluation including: demographics, usability measures, comfortability with technology, emotional state, and open-ended feedback. Results: Focus group participants (n = 24) generally favored using a tablet-based tool to screen for elder mistreatment and expressed comfort answering questions on elder mistreatment using tablets. Usability evaluation participants (n = 14) overall scored VOICES a mean System Usability Scale (SUS) score of 86.6 (median = 88.8), higher than the benchmark SUS score of 68, indicating excellent ease of use. In addition, 93% stated that they would recommend the VOICES tool to others and 100% indicated understanding of VOICES' information and content. Conclusion: Our findings show that older adults are capable, willing, and comfortable with using the innovative and self-administrated digital tool for elder mistreatment screening. Our future plan is to conduct a feasibility study to evaluate the use of VOICES in identifying suspicion of mistreatment.
AB - Background/Objectives: A major barrier for society in overcoming elder mistreatment is an inability to accurately identify victims. There are several barriers to self-reporting elder mistreatment, including fear of nursing home placement or losing autonomy or a caregiver. Existing strategies to identify elder mistreatment neglect to empower those who experience it with tools for self-reporting. In this project, we developed and evaluated the usability of VOICES, a self-administrated digital health tool that screens, educates, and motivates older adults to self-report elder mistreatment. Design: Cross-sectional study with User-Centered Design (UCD) approach. Setting: Yale School of Medicine and the Agency on Aging of South-Central Connecticut. Participants: Thirty eight community-dwelling and cognitively intact older adults aged 60 years and older, caregivers, clinicians, and social workers. Intervention: A tablet-based self-administrated digital health tool that screens, educates, and motivates older adults to self-report elder mistreatment. Measurements: Qualitative and quantitative data were obtained from: (1) focus groups participants including: feedback from open-ended discussion, demographics, and a post-session survey; (2) usability evaluation including: demographics, usability measures, comfortability with technology, emotional state, and open-ended feedback. Results: Focus group participants (n = 24) generally favored using a tablet-based tool to screen for elder mistreatment and expressed comfort answering questions on elder mistreatment using tablets. Usability evaluation participants (n = 14) overall scored VOICES a mean System Usability Scale (SUS) score of 86.6 (median = 88.8), higher than the benchmark SUS score of 68, indicating excellent ease of use. In addition, 93% stated that they would recommend the VOICES tool to others and 100% indicated understanding of VOICES' information and content. Conclusion: Our findings show that older adults are capable, willing, and comfortable with using the innovative and self-administrated digital tool for elder mistreatment screening. Our future plan is to conduct a feasibility study to evaluate the use of VOICES in identifying suspicion of mistreatment.
KW - abuse screening tools
KW - digital health
KW - elder mistreatment
KW - usability evaluation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85101220271&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85101220271&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/jgs.17068
DO - 10.1111/jgs.17068
M3 - Article
C2 - 33615433
AN - SCOPUS:85101220271
SN - 0002-8614
VL - 69
SP - 1469
EP - 1478
JO - Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
JF - Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
IS - 6
ER -