Digital inclusion for older adults: a persuasive power evaluation framework for smart clothing targeting the young elderly

Persuasive technology demonstrates significant potential in enhancing user experience and compliance among elderly users of smart clothing. However, comprehensive and systematic methods for evaluating persuasive power remain insufficient. This study focuses on the young elderly, a key target demographic for smart clothing, and constructs a persuasive power evaluation framework using a behavioral research approach encompassing both objective and tool dimensions. Firstly, in-depth interviews with consumer representatives and industry experts were conducted using open-ended interview techniques to collect persuasive power elements in the objective dimension. Secondly, the user journey mapping method was employed to observe and analyze the entire process of young elderly using smart clothing, thereby obtaining persuasive power elements in the tool dimension. These two steps formed the core structure of the evaluation framework. Subsequently, the Kano model was utilized to categorize and adjust the weights of the collected persuasive power elements, ultimately constructing a persuasive power evaluation tool comprising 30 indicators across objective and tool dimensions. Practitioners and users were invited to evaluate the tool, and fuzzy comprehensive quantitative analysis yielded a satisfactory rating with an overall score of 3.987/5, validating the effectiveness of the proposed evaluation tool. Additionally, some counterintuitive findings were revealed, such as the young elderly’s preference for smart functions completely concealed within traditional clothing designs rather than overt technological displays. This research aims to provide theoretical references for broader populations to access smart healthy age-friendly environments, starting from the study of smart clothing’s persuasive power, and offers a humanities-based perspective on mitigating current international aging issues. However, the research still has limitations in sample representativeness, evaluation dimension coverage, and methodological bias control. Future research needs to expand sample diversity, supplement long-term effect evaluation, and integrate objective measurement methods.