• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.287-296
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• 2010

The purpose of this research is to analyze priority of the elderly user interface (UI) evaluation criteria based on user's lifestyle. Since the elderly population will occupy over 20% of the all Korean population in the near future, we need to know older users' needs and information because elderly users will be main customers in the super-aged society. This paper investigated the definition of elderly users and characteristics demographically, socio-economically, and physically/cognitively. A total of 238 questionnaires from older users were analyzed based on a segmentation table for the elderly developed by the previous study. According to factor analysis and cluster analysis, 6 types of lifestyle and 4 groups of the elderly users were classified, respectively. The priority of UI evaluation criteria for large electronic home appliances and mobile products was analyzed by analyses of variance (ANOVAs). The results indicated that the priority of (physical, emotional, and cognitive) UI criteria was significantly different among elderly users' lifestyles for both home appliances and mobile products. Consequently, the results of this study may help the company develop some competitive silver products and give higher satisfaction to the elderly users by suggesting different priority of UI evaluation criteria according to the target elderly group. The results may also contribute to revitalize national economy by significantly increasing senior market shares.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.117-130
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• 2003

This study was conducted to examine elderly users' satisfaction with welfare services and the environments of the senior citizen centers in mid-sized and small cities in Korea. Three hundred and two elderly users were surveyed for this study. Age and gender differences in the level of satisfaction were found. The male elderly users and older users were more satisfied with the education programs than the female and younger users. The elderly people who reside in single-family residences were more satisfied with the educational programs and part-time job opportunities offered at the center than the elderly users who were living in apartment buildings. This could be explained by the fact that dwellers of single housing had more freedom and more room for self-regulation in scheduling their program participation, whereas the apartment building residents had rarely experienced social exchanges with their neighbors. There were significant differences in satisfaction with the environments of the centers by gender, marital status, age, level of education, religion, and housing type. The group differences were explained by the abundance of community activities that are centered around younger and female participants. Based on these findings, it is suggested that more specialized educational and social programs should be developed for the younger users in their early 60s, that co-ed religious activities and hobby programs should be expanded, and that the home-visiting welfare staff should regularly provide the elderly users the information on programs and activities.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.39-48
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• 2014

Purpose : Balanced meal service is very important for the elderly to maintain good physical health. Good food and comfortable dining environment is also important for the elderly to prevent emotional depression. The purpose of this study is to investigate current problems of dining space in Korean elderly welfare facility. De-institutionalizing dining environment of elderly welfare facility will bring more meaningful social interactions among elderly users. Methods : Through literature research and case studies of welfare centers in the US and Japan, Elderly Dining Space Checklist was developed. Dining spaces of 11 welfare facilities in Seoul was analyzed by this checklist. It was administered by interior designers as well as facility staffs to achieve more credible results. Questionnaire for the elderly users of those dining space also prosecuted to broaden knowledge for creating improved environment. Results : Dining spaces of elderly welfare centers are lack of privacy and furnitures are not comfortable enough for the general users as well as wheelchair users. Elderly dining space users are seeking more private and comfortable spaces for the social communications. Implications : Dining environment for the elderly in Korea should develop more de-institutionalized design concepts.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.695-704
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• 2012

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate major factors influencing adoption of smartphone to promote its use by older adults. Background: Despite increasing proportion of elderly people and elderly market, the proportion of elderly smartphone user is still relatively small compared to whole smartphone users. Thus, we need to find out major factors influencing adoption of smartphone to increase proportion of elderly smartphone users. Method: Seven major factors were extracted from 36 survey questions using factor analysis. Regression analysis was also applied to determine specific factors affecting intention of use based on user versus non-user of smartphone, age, gender, and educational background. Results: As results of factor analysis and regression analysis, major factors influencing adoption of smartphone for elderly users were significantly different according to gender, age, educational background based on smartphone users or non-users. Conclusion: The result of this study identified major factors influencing adoption of smartphone for the elderly and provided basic information related to adoption of smartphone according to elderly people's characteristics. Consequently, we can expect to reduce the information gap and to improve quality of life for the elderly. Application: The development and marketing strategy could be applied differently based on the factors influencing adoption of smartphone. It is also possible to develop a prediction model for smartphone adoption according to elderly users' characteristics.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.329-339
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• 2020

Objectives: This study was undertaken to evaluate the intake of vitamins and minerals from dietary supplements (DSs) in Korean adults and elderly. Methods: Data for this study was generated from the 2017 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). We analyzed 4,204 individuals aged 19 years and older (2,579 users and 1,625 non-users). The survey included 24-h recall questions on food and DS intakes, as well as questions on DS use over the past year. The nutrient DSs evaluated were calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and vitamin C. Total nutrient intakes were obtained by combining nutrient intakes of foods and DSs consumed by each subject. Results: Most micronutrient intakes from food (except for thiamin) in adult users, and the four micronutrient intakes (iron, vitamin A, vitamin B₂ and vitamin C) in elderly users, were significantly higher than values obtained in non-users. For total intake of nutrients and DSs, both adult and elderly users had a significantly higher intake than non-users. While proportions below Estimated Average Requirements for all micronutrients by adding respective DSs in users were significantly reduced in adults and elderly as compared to non-users, the proportions of above Tolerable Upper Intake Levels for calcium and vitamin A in adults, and vitamin A in elderly, were significantly increased. In the total subjects examined, consumption of DSs was associated with lower odds ratios of undernutrition of micronutrients, and with higher odds ratios of overnutrition of calcium, iron, and vitamin A, as compared to non-users of DSs. Conclusions: Although DSs consumption by adults and the elderly improves the micronutrient status, it also increases the risk of excessive intake of certain vitamins and minerals.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.265-273
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• 2011

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the attributing factors influencing usability of the mobile phones specifically designed for the elderly users. Efforts to identify factors that cause usability problems for the elderly users in using mobile phones can provide the groundwork for changes aimed at usability enhancement and design of interfaces of mobile phones. Background: It became important to understand the behaviors and tendencies of the elderly in communication as the society became older. The problems in digital divide is contributed to mainly lack of understanding in terms of the use pattern of the elderly and lack of consideration of their characteristics in designing user interfaces of most ICT devices. Method: A total of 30 elderly users who were over 65 years in age participated in usability evaluation test experiment and performed seven different tasks using a widely accepted model of universally designed mobile phone. Their performance was compared with that of contrast group that consisted of 10 younger participants who were on their 20s. Results: It was found that the elderly users had hard times in using mobile phones, especially in keypad manipulation among search, understanding, and manipulation subtasks. Conclusion: Older users seemed to have difficulty in all the subtasks of search, recognition, and manipulation. It was suggested that designers of mobile phones need to give careful consideration into designing visual interfaces for search tasks and keypads for easier control and input for the elderly users. Application: The study is expected to provide guidelines for the universal design of mobile phones and their interfaces for enhancing usability of the mobile phone for elderly users.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.771-782
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• 2010

Today, the number of elderly drivers who use navigation is increasing with the growing number of elderly drivers. The purpose of this study is to provide guidelines on the interface of car navigation for elderly users. To extract significant factors which were distinguished between young and elderly users, both young and elderly users executed the driving test by installing two car navigation alternatives. The analysis was conducted through t-test. The results show that significantly different factors were the number and the meaning of the menu items in the initial screen, the location and the meaning of the menu icons in the map screen, the ease of search of the menu and the text size in the menu screen. Improvements for the factors of the initial screen and map screen were made with reference to ergonomic guidelines, and suggested through experiments comparing design alternatives for the menu screen. Design alternatives were made through a combination of investigative variables, and the analysis was conducted through ANOVA. The results show that Alternative 7 (the location of the tab was placed at the bottom, menu representation was done with the text font size of 18pt and the location of menu navigation icons was shown at the upper left) was preferred in terms of user's preference and the execution time. So if the suggested menu for elderly users are added to the existing design, both users will satisfy their desires. The guidelines suggested in this study will help the designer of car navigation take elderly users into consideration.

• KIEAE Journal
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.101-106
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• 2013

As the number of aged people increase, hospitals specializing in elderly cares have also increased very rapidly. Therefore it is necessary to improve the quality of these hospitals for the elderly people in order to enhance the function of these hospitals not only for conventional treatment but also for recovery and convalescence. To study such trend and needs, this study researched on planning for Elderly Hospital's Atrium that provides a space for the elderly people so that they may enjoy the natural environment while being supported from diverse aspects for long term cares and sustained living, and tried to find out design solutions based on users' demand through questionnaire survey and interviews both with the management of the elderly hospital and the inpatients or the users. As a result of this study, it was revealed that each user showed his or her own respective characteristics concerning his or her expectation about the environment of their using spaces, and according to this result the strategic direction and design plan could be drawn. Based on plans for this Elderly Hospital's Atrium specializing in cares for the elderly people, useful information will be provided for caring, treatment and recovering environment of the elderly hospitals in future considering not only the conventional medical and technical services but also the inpatients' or the users' physical, psychological and social factors.

• International Journal of Contents
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.37-41
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• 2014

This study defined the pre-elderly as middle age people from 50 to 59. Because it is difficult to produce a design to satisfy the pre-elderly without deeply understanding them, their financial and physical characteristics and persona-based scenario method was studied. An experimental study about persona based scenario method was conducted, and as a result, the types of personas found were as follows: 1) Users enjoy the same games online and offline. 2) Users enjoy playing alone on the computer. 3) Users prefer games that end quickly with win or loss. Writing the situation scenario for each type, the pre-elderly's problems and needs occurring while they play web board games were obtained. The obtained user requests were as follows: users would like the level of difficulty to be simpler in the game of baduk; users wanted unlimited credit and refrainment from using English words in go-Stop; and there were simple comments about game screen design.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.16 no.10
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• pp.185-196
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• 2011

Exercise programs for elderly users are operated by each department and facility, but it is not enough to visualize exercise prescription and effect followed by elderly users physical conditions. The purpose of this study is to suggest exercise prescription for elderly users with a visual path map. A visual path map is to visually present types of users classified according to physical strength conditions, the process of exercise prescription, and effects of exercise. Exercise prescription is divided into four stages: analysis of physical conditions, exercise prescription by the visual path map, smart exercise prescription, and exercise for elderly users. The first stage, analysis of physical conditions is to classify physical conditions by each type by mechanically learning elderly users' physical test values. The second stage, exercise prescription by the visual path map, is to present exercise prescription suitable for elderly users' physical conditions. The third stage, smart exercise prescription, is to offer exercise prescription of the day when exercise is carried out using elderly users' smart phones in consideration of their situations. The fourth stage, exercise for elderly users, is to provide information by their smart phones when they exercise. In conclusion, this study will be able to induce elderly users to do continuous exercise by motivating them.