Abstract:

Mobility defined as the ability of an individual to purposively move about the environment is an essential aspect of our everyday life. Not surprisingly, limitations or reduced mobility are affecting an individual’s health and wellbeing in multiple ways including autonomy, social inclusion, economic independence, etc. This is impacting primarily people above retirement age whose number is expected to reach 1.5 billion in 2050. Thus, mobility is an important predictor of the quality of life among (QoL) older adults and a measure of successful aging [1].

Assistive technologies (ATs) comprise products, resources, methods, strategies, practices and services that provide support for persons with reduced mobility such that they can maintain their autonomy, independence, QoL and social inclusion [2]. The development of ATs is aiming to neutralize the barriers caused by reduced mobility and related disability. However, in order for ATs to reach their goals, both older adults and their caregivers (informal and formal) have to acquire the competences (knowledge, skills, positive attitude) needed for fully exploiting the potential of ATs. In this context, ERMAT is developing within an ERASMUS+ initiative a training program which provides materials and guidelines that enable any interested person to train elderly persons with reduced mobility or their caregivers in the use of assistive technologies. ERMAT stands for “Development of a training program for the improvement of quality of life of elder persons with reduced mobility through the exploitation of assistive technologies” and its aim is to:
- inform about available ATs and their application to specific needs;
- create awareness and trust about the importance and possibilities of using ATs for improving the QoL of older adults with reduced mobility;
- promote the sense of self-care and care supported by ATs;
- create digital and technological skills, which allow users to properly exploit ATs;
- create an e-learning environment for knowledge and good practices exchange among the intended users of the platform.

In this paper, we present an overview of the ERMAT e-training platform as well as the results obtained by involving 120 users (older adults, informal and formal caregivers) from Spain, Slovenia, Greece, Romania, Croatia and Germany in the evaluation of the ERMAT platform. Several training sessions were organized in each country and the users’ input was collected using dedicated methodologies such as the System Usability Scale (SUS) which is a reliable tool for measuring the usability of a given product or service [3].

References:
[1] S. Musich, S.S.Wang, J. Ruiz, K. Hawkins, and E. Wicker, “The impact of mobility limitations on health outcomes among older adults”, Geriatric Nursing, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 162-169, 2018.
[2] R.F. dos Santos, P.Y.S. Sampaio, R.A.C. Sampaio, G.L. Gutierrez, and M.A.B. de Almeida, “Assistive technology and its relationship to the quality of life of people with disabilities”, Rev. Ter. Ocup. Univ. São Paulo, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 54-62, 2017.
[3] J. Brooke, “SUS: A Retrospective”, Journal of Usability Studies, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 29-40, 2013.

Keywords:

E-training platform, quality of life, assistive technologies.