Community-dwelling older adults are more apt to continue using wearable monitoring devices — think pedometers, smartwatches and trackers — if healthcare workers or peers give them support, according to a new report.
The Journal of Medical Internet Research, detailed a data review from a team at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The investigators assessed data from three randomized controlled trials that were on more than 150 older adults, spanning 2010 to 2023. The mean age of the participants in the three studies was 65 years.
Two studies involved Fitbit smartwatches and a third was on orthopedic footwear for people with a foot condition.
Interventions that centered on boosting a person’s awareness that they were being monitored (and used collaborative goal-setting as well as feedback), helped people stick to using the devices. One such intervention cited in two of the studies was the SystemCHANGE approach, a tool focused on changing habits by using goals and feedback.
Older adults may find it uncomfortable to use the technology in monitoring devices, or not see the value in using it, the team wrote. Use of and adherence to a device is historically low for older adults, the researchers pointed out in the article. One piece of research they cited showed that one out of every three adults abandoned the devices within six months after purchasing one, while people over the age of 70 stopped using the devices after about two weeks.
In the studies, people using the intervention stuck with their devices 100% at six months and 96.5% at a year after starting to wear it. By contrast, 92.3% of those not using the approach were still using their devices at six months, while 80.8% were a year later.
Giving older adults targeted support with their devices is key to continued usage, the researchers noted. “Healthcare professionals play a pivotal role in facilitating the adoption of wearable monitoring devices among older adults,” Arkers Kwan Ching Wong, one of the researchers, said in a statement.
