Website task performance by older adults

Abstract

The present study examined influences of fluid intelligence and website experience on a website task by 99 community-dwelling older adults (41 males, 58 females, age range 58 – 90 years) who were screened for visual acuity and major health problems. They were divided into three groups, dependent on their prior website experience (19 with no prior website experience, 55 with low website experience and 25 with high website experience). Perpendicular to this, the participants were divided into low- and high-fluid intelligence groups and into young – old and old – old age groups. Participants performed a website information retrieval task using three health information websites. Performance was assessed by the time taken to retrieve target information. Overall, the three websites significantly differed in the time taken to locate the target information. The website task performance was not significantly influenced by fluid intelligence score or age, but there was a significant influence by prior website experience.

Keywords:

• World Wide Web
• Older adults
• Health information
• Fluid intelligence

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support given by the Health Foundation, London, United Kingdom, to carry out this research.

Thanks to Ms Maria Langford and Mr Phillip Crawford from the department of Ophthalmology, Selly Oak Hospital, UK, for their assistance in implementing the appropriate standards and procedures for the visual acuity testing.