Association between the use of Information and Communication Technology and activeness in life among community-dwelling older adults

This study aimed to clarify the association between the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and activeness in life among community-dwelling older adults. A self-administered, unmarked questionnaire survey was conducted among individuals aged 60 years or older who were registered with Silver Human Resource Centers or Senior citizen clubs in a city in Osaka Prefecture. The survey collected data on participants, demographic characteristics, health status, ICT use, and activeness in life (particularly expansion of life space, exercise habits, motivation, and social activities). ICT use was defined as the use of any mobile devices to connect to the Internet, such as smartphones, tablets, or wearable devices. A logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate the association between ICT use and activeness in life after adjusting for confounding factors. A total of 892 responses were used in the analysis. The results revealed that the odds ratios (ORs) for expansion of life space (1.84) and motivation (2.17) were significantly higher for the group of participants using ICT use than for the group of participants not using ICT. In contrast, ICT use was not associated with exercise habits and social activities. Overall, this study clarified that ICT use is significantly associated with the expansion of life space and motivation among community-dwelling older adults. In particularly, ICT use may increase mental activity, inferred from the highest OR value for motivation noted in the current results. In conclusion, ICT use can enhance activeness in life among community-dwelling older adults.