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O3‐03‐01: Cognitive abilities, well‐being and Internet search performance in older people
Author(s) -
Wardt Veronika,
Bandelow Stephan,
Hogervorst Eef
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
alzheimer's and dementia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.713
H-Index - 118
eISSN - 1552-5279
pISSN - 1552-5260
DOI - 10.1016/j.jalz.2011.05.2400
Subject(s) - the internet , mood , cognition , psychology , psychomotor learning , logistic regression , clinical psychology , psychiatry , medicine , world wide web , computer science
Background: Internet and computer use could offer significant benefits to older people with and without cognitive impairments, as it has been found to improve cognitive abilities and delay dementia onset (Hall & al., 2009; Newson & Kemps, 2006; Verghese, 2003). In addition, the Internet offers access to services, information and support. However, Internet and computer use also requires cognitive abilities that decrease with age (Czaja & al.,2006; Laberge & Scialfa, 2005), and, although the impact of mood and well-being on cognitive abilities has been established (Burton & al., 2009; O’Rourke & al., 2009), their role in the relationship between cognition and Internet use has not yet been investigated. Methods: Participants included 27 vulnerable service users of community support groups (19% male, mean age 1⁄4 62.77, SD 1⁄4 8.93) with and without cognitive impairment. Internet use was assessed using a questionnaire which measured frequency and diversity of Internet use. In addition, well-being, mood, verbal learning and memory as well as psychomotor speed were examined. Results: Spearman’s rank correlations showed significant correlations between Internet search scores and all cognitive scores (table) but cognitive scores and Internet search were not significantly related to well-being or mood. Logistic regression analysis confirmed this result for Frequency of Internet searching: psychomotor speed (Exp (B) 1⁄4 1.29; 95%; CI 1⁄4 1.01 to 1.66) significantly predicted Internet Searching after controlling for education. For Diversity of Internet searching, the regression analysis was not significant. Conclusions:This confirmed earlier findings that cognitive abilities contribute to Internet use, and indicated that well-being or mood do not affect this relationship. Although our study only used few measures for cognitive abilities, all were significantly related to the diversity and frequency of Internet searching. To improve Internet access for older people, website developers should thus consider the following: a) not requiring information to be stored in memory; b) limiting the amount of information on the screen at any one time; c) allowing sufficient time to enter and read information; d) limiting the number of choices people can make at any one step.