Use of New Technologies by Institutionalized Elderly

Abstract

With the increasing aging, it’s essential to implement measures promoting the well-being and healthy aging of the population. In Portugal, there are several measures to promote healthy aging, and, nowadays, we begin to study the impact that new technologies bring on the aging process. It was our objective to understand how the institutionalized elderly are using the new technologies; perceive whether institutionalized seniors have interest in using new technologies; evaluate the psychological well-being of the elderly and understand if there is a relationship between the use of the new technologies and the psychological well-being of the institutionalized elderly. This was a descriptive, exploratory, and cross-sectional study, with a convenience sample of 135 institutionalized elderly from a northern region of Portugal. Through the instrument, data were collected on sociodemographic characteristics, the use of new technologies, and the psychological well-being of the elderly. After statistical analysis it is possible to see that there are no statistically significant relationships between the variables. However, there is a greater tendency for the use of the mobile phone than for the use of the computer (37% use a mobile phone). Concerning well-being, the average score is 85.95 points and the most scored dimensions are happiness (M= 27.52) and self-esteem (M= 14.62).