Older Adults’ Usability and Emotional Reactions toward Text, Diagram, Image, and Animation Interfaces for Displaying Health Information

Abstract

Technology can facilitate the provision of healthcare to older adults. Wearable devices are thus increasingly prevalent amidst perpetual component miniaturization and cost reduction. This study aimed to determine whether existing application (app) interfaces are suitable for older adults by comparing the perceived usability and emotional reactions of younger users and older users to the health information display formats of wearable interfaces. Based on the outcomes of a literature review and expert recommendations, four health display interfaces—text, diagram, image, and animation—were developed and revised. Thirty respondents in Miaoli, Taiwan, were invited to participate in a questionnaire and interviews. The collected data were analyzed and discussed to develop design recommendations. The findings of this study were as follows: (1) the diagram interface had the lowest performance; (2) the respondents preferred the animation interface, which produced strong affective valence, thereby suggesting that animation generated positive emotions, yielding a result consistent with expert views and existing design principles; and (3) older users were more accepting of the text interface than the younger users, who exhibited negative emotions toward the text interface, highlighting a significant generation gap.

Keywords

• health information
• interface formats
• older adults
• wearable devices
• usability
• emotional reaction