Commercially available activity-monitoring apps, Web sites, and wearable devices allow for easy self-management of health and wellness. This technology may be particularly helpful for older adults, who can improve their cognitive function through proper diet and exercise. Despite tracking monitors’ growing popularity and potential benefits, product designers rarely consider those over 65 to be a viable user group, and new human factors/ergonomics research indicates that the technology presents several usability challenges for this population.

“Many older adults have chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension that require them to self-manage their health,” said Kimberly Preusse, coauthor of “Activity Monitoring Technologies and Older Adult Users: Heuristic Analysis and Usability Assessment” and Georgia Tech engineering psychology graduate student. “Research has shown that they want to track their diet and exercise, but most don’t use activity-monitoring technologies to do so.”

“Activity-monitoring technologies can make tracking diet and exercise easier because they gather some data automatically and display trends over time,” said Preusse. “Companies should market their products directly to older adult users so that they understand how the technology can be beneficial in managing their health.”

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Source: Medical News Today.

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