The Accuracy Of Self-Reported Data Of An Aging Population Using A Telehealth System In A Retirement Community Setting Based On The User's Age, Gender, Employment Status And Computer Experience

Looking towards the horizon, the US faces a significant increase in numbers of our older population, in contrast to the young able population who can provide care. It is imperative that a bridge in the knowledge gap between health technology designers, manufactures and the targeted user population occurs.;There are many devices being created for the older adult population, yet many have low adoption rates. This could potentially be due to a need to better understand the target users' background which includes, computer experience, age, education and employment.;This dissertation, aims to increase our understanding of the older population perception and interaction with health care technologies, by looking for any correlations between their individual and group perspectives about technology, experiences with technology, their socio-demographic background which include age, gender, education obtained and current employment and potentially any impact on their use of health-care related technologies.;The technology used to assist in obtaining data regarding the older adults interaction with a new health care technology is the Intel Health Guide which is a telehealth device created by Intel. This device is designed specifically to assist a user manage their own health and interact with their clinical team and it can be an interesting observation to see how participants engage, interact and feel about this newer type of technology.;Using technology in healthcare may have large consequences when there are inaccuracies therefore this dissertation also includes an evaluation of errors made by the participants during data entry and attempt to determine if any items in the participants' background or their perception about computers may potentially impact their ability to document data accurately with this device.