Page 153 - Petelin, Ana, ur. 2024. Zdravje delovno aktivnih in starejših odraslih / Health of Working-Age and Older Adults. Zbornik povzetkov z recenzijo ▪︎ Book of Abstracts. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press

Invited lecture

Determinants of smartphone use among older adults:
Shaping of attitude toward use and perceived usefulness

2
1
Simon Vrhovec , Patrik Pucer , Boštjan Žvanut 2
1 University of Maribor, Faculty of Criminal Justice and Security, Ljubljana, Slovenia
2 University of Primorska Faculty of Health Sciences, Izola, Slovenia
Introduction: The population is gradually aging both in Slovenia and elsewhere in Eu-
rope. In recent years, smartphones have become universally available to virtually all
generations, including older adults. Even though smartphones can contribute to en-
riching the daily lives of older adults, a significant proportion of older adults do not
own or use smartphones. As part of the e@ser project, we focused on the identifica-
tion of factors related to the formation of attitude toward use and perceived useful-
ness, including perceived threats while using smartphones.
Methods: In this contribution, we will present the key findings of a cross-sectional study
among older adults in Slovenia (N=535). The questionnaire was designed to measure
11 constructs: intention to use, attitude toward use, subjective norm, ease of use, per-
ceived usefulness, hedonic motivation, facilitating conditions, perceived threats, anxi-
ety, fear of use, and rejection of benefits. Associations between constructs were test-
ed using structural modeling (CB-SEM) on the entire sample and sub-samples based
on the use of smartphones.
Results: The research results indicate that intention to use is well explained by subjec-
tive norm, perceived usefulness, and attitude toward use. Attitude toward use is re-
lated to hedonic motivation, perceived usefulness, and anxiety. Perceived usefulness
is related to ease of use, rejection of benefits, fear of use, and perceived threats. In
the sample of older adults who use smartphones, the effect size of the association be- uporaba ikt rešitev na področju zdravja ... | ict solutions for health ...
tween perceived usefulness and intention to use is significantly lower than the effect
size in the sample of older adults who do not use smartphones. Factors associated
with perceived usefulness also differ between the two samples, as the effect size of
ease of use is significantly lower, while the effect size of rejection of benefits is signifi-
cantly higher in the sample of older adults who use smartphones.
Discussion and conclusions: This study provides insights into the factors of smartphone
adoption among older adults, including perceived threats while using smartphones. It
indicated the need to separately treat older adults who use smartphones and those
who do not. This work is partially funded by the Slovenian Research Agency (J5-3111).
Keywords: older adults, smartphones, technology adoption, secure use of smart de-
vices

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