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 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health (R01AG060084). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Gill is supported by the Yale Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (P30AG021342).
Funding Information:
We would like to thank and acknowledge our co-researchers, Barbara Bouvier, Carol Hunihan, and Laurie Rogoff for their assistance and collaboration on this project.
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 -