Towards a Proposal of an Application to Promote Volunteering

through Television to Help Older Adults

Rita Santos

1,2

, Hilma Caravau

2,3

Ana Isabel Martins

3,4

, Ciro Martins

1,4

and Mário Rodrigues

1,4

Águeda School of Technology and Management, University of Aveiro, Portugal

CIC.DIGITAL/Digimedia, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

National Association of Gerontologists, Campus Universitário de Santiago, Aveiro, Portugal

Institute of Electronics and Telematics Engineering of Aveiro, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal

Keywords: Application for Set-Top TV Box, Ask for Support, Volunteering, Voice Interaction.

Abstract: This article seeks to present a proposal of a project that aims to develop a television (TV) application that

allows older adults to ask for support from a group of volunteers in specific tasks, using voice to carry out

some tasks. To this end, a review was made to identify projects that have been addressing TV and voice

interfaces in the context of systems and services directed to older adults. The review also focused on

initiatives that use digital technologies to support volunteering targeting older adults. In addition, a

questionnaire was applied to a group of people considered to be among the groups of stakeholders of the

abovementioned application. The results of the review show that, even with several improvements in the last

years in voice interaction area, it is not yet generally considered in TV applications and there seem to be few

applications that are focused on foster volunteering targeting older adults. Furthermore, the data obtained by

the questionnaire reveal the existence of a set of factors that do not allow a generalized acceptance of the

use of a TV application to ask for help from a group of volunteers, despite being recognized by diverse

groups of stakeholders that this type of applications is important.

1 INTRODUCTION

Ageing is a natural and inevitable process, that all

human beings face and is characterized by a set of

normal modifications at the physical, psychological

and social level. In Portugal, about 60% of the

elderly population lives alone or in the exclusive

company of other older adults, which reflects a

phenomenon of social isolation whose dimension

has increased around 28% over the last decade

(Statistics Portugal, 2012). Even if older adults stay

at home, there are often innumerable difficulties that

they cannot overcome alone. These situations can be

avoided if older adults were supported by other

people that help them, for example, to perform daily

life activities. Individuals from younger generations

often live far away from their elderly relatives or,

even if near, they are increasingly committed to their

professional career and family obligations, which

often prevents them from providing support to their

older relatives. In this context, volunteering emerges

as one of the possible answers, based on the

kindness and altruism of others, both during

emergencies as well as contributing to the long-term

development (International Federation of Red Cross

and Red Crescent Societies, 2015). Portugal is

among the countries in Europe in which

participation in voluntary activities is lower

(Público, 2012). This is particularly concerning in an

aged country where volunteering actions could

represent an important help to the elderly and

improve their quality of life, as this life stage is

characterized by physical difficulties that affect the

elderly’s ability to perform several tasks.

The idea of using TV to make requests to a

group of volunteers seems to be a great asset for the

elderly. In fact, TV is the most preferred audio-

visual media and also the most used by Portuguese

people 65 years or over (daily average of 5 hours

and 8 minutes watching TV) (Portuguese Regulatory

Authority for the Media, 2016). Therefore, it seems

reasonable to assume that TV might be also used to

undertake other activities that older adults

understand as useful. Furthermore, in Portugal there

is an age group gap in the use of new digital media

and Internet, where the group of people 65 plus

192

Santos, R., Caravau, H., Martins, A., Martins, C. and Rodrigues, M.

Towards a Proposal of an Application to Promote Volunteering through Television to Help Older Adults.

DOI: 10.5220/0006750801920199

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health (ICT4AWE 2018), pages 192-199

ISBN: 978-989-758-299-8

presents a very modest use of digital media despite

several projects dedicated to promoting digital

literacy in that target. Therefore, it is not surprising

that a growing number of projects/services are

regarding TV as a means of providing diverse useful

services to the elderly. Nevertheless, there are still

several obstacles to a wider use. One of these is the

fact that the interaction is mediated by TV remote

control, which may be difficult to use in certain

contexts, especially in conditions associated with

aging (Ribeiro et al., 2015). In this context, voice

can be a way to bypass these difficulties and several

projects have been invested in voice features as

demonstrated in the next section.

The aim of this paper is to present the results of a

review process to deepen knowledge about

initiatives and projects based on digital technologies

and TV, directed at helping older adults, and about

how multimodal interfaces, specially voice, are

being used in these kinds of applications. In this

review, projects that aimed to promote volunteering

targeted at older adults were also analyzed. Besides

this review phase, the paper also presents the results

of a questionnaire that was applied to older adults,

relatives and persons that work in Institutions related

with older adults. Finally, a general outline of a

project aiming to develop a TV application that, in a

simple and quick way through voice, will allow

older adults to request help from a group of

volunteers in daily life tasks is also presented. The

results here presented are intended as a contribution

to projects that aim to use TV and voice to interact

with older adults to deliver a specific service.

2 REVIEW OF INITIATIVES AND

PROJECTS

During the last years, several initiatives and projects

have been launched and funded by the European

Union and other international Institutions with the

aim of using ICT to help older adults to stay healthy,

independent and active in their community

(European Commission, 2011). Examples of those

relevant initiatives are the European Innovation

Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing

(European Commission, 2017). In this area, is

unavoidable to mention the Active and Assisted

Living (AAL) Programme, “a funding activity that

aims to create better conditions of life for the older

adults and to strengthen the international industrial

opportunities in the area of information and

communication technology (ICT)” (AAL

Association, 2017). These initiatives have been

followed by projects such as eCAALYX, a project

that was dedicated to monitor the health of older and

elderly persons with multiple chronic conditions, at

home and on the move. The approach involved the

development of a device linked to a home

communication system, which integrated the most

relevant sensors for monitoring of common chronic

conditions in a comfortable garment linked to a

smartphone. Embedded in the garment were also

sensors for detecting falls (Boulos et al., 2011).

Transversal to these initiatives is the idea of the

importance of a strong user involvement to develop

technology-based solutions that will be relevant to

elder people in their daily-lives. Also, the revision

undertaken highlighted the growing concern of

taking into consideration the capabilities of older or

disabled people in the development of user

interfaces. For that purpose, several projects have

been assuming that people can interact through

movements and gestures, voice, by touch, and other

means, using a TV remote control, a mobile device,

a smart watch, or any other digital devices. One

example is the HOST project - smart technologies

for self-service to older adults in social housing -

which aimed to provide an answer to the needs of

today’s Social Housing requirements, in order to

enrich the life of the elderly people living in the

current social house park (Rhône, 2017). The

proposed platform aimed to provide easy-to-use

technologies (like voice synthesis and Android

based touch-screen devices) in social housing flats to

allow better communication and better access to

special services from the elderly.

In the revision undertaken, it was clear the

importance that speech interfaces have as an

interaction method in applications developed for the

elderly for home environments. One example of

such projects is Speech-driven Environmental

Control Systems (SPECS), aimed at developing a

novel environmental control system for disabled and

elderly people, controlled by automatic speech

recognition. SPECS was part of a larger project

named STARDUST (Speech Training and

Recognition for Dysarthric Users of Speech

Technology), and one of its findings was that the

control of the environmental systems is very difficult

since they were deployed in the home where varying

levels of background noise can make automatic

speech recognition systems unreliable (Judge et al.,

2009). Another project, Miraculous-Life, focus on

how to design, develop and evaluate an innovative

user centric technological solution named Virtual

Support Partner (VSP), for attending elders (65+) in

Towards a Proposal of an Application to Promote Volunteering through Television to Help Older Adults

193

their daily activity and safety needs, while they go

about their normal daily life. The VSP fuses together

user’s facial expressions, voice intonation, gestures

and other contextual information of the user’s

environment. It provides responses and delivery of

services through an Avatar-based interface

exhibiting empathic respond through face emotions

and voice intonations (Samaras, 2016). Another

project using a VSP is CaMeLi, “a two-year AAL

project seeking to provide automated services with

the purpose of assisting elderly people in their daily

activities and assist them in the provision of a

comfortable quality of care”. The CaMeLi project

features avatar interfaces that can recognize the

users’ affective state and behavior, express emotions

and other human-like behaviors, and also includes a

speech interface (Tsiourti et al., 2016).

Focusing on projects that consider TV as an

important device in the use of applications that

promote health and well-being by the older adults

group, it is also possible to find some projects in that

context. Under the AAL programme, the HEREiAM

project aimed to develop a platform based on the

Android operating system that, considering the

specific needs and preferences of the older adults,

allowed them to access and consume a set of

services and information directly from their own TV

such as shopping, social networking, home security

monitoring, self and healthcare (Macis et al., 2015).

Senior-TV is another similar project that is currently

being developed and whose main objective is to

develop a platform for providing formal caregiving

services as well informal (i.e. weather, NEWS,

events) to the elderly that live alone in their own

homes. The platform will be a multichannel system

developed to be used on Smart TV in combination

with smartphones and tablets as main interfaces

(Senior-TV Consortium, 2017). Another example is

the SeniorChannel, a project that aimed to develop

an Interactive Internet Protocol Television Channel

“(…) that will not only provide the elderly people

with a method of interacting but also with a unique

means to access the range of diverse activities in

their community including the opportunity to share

knowledge and experience, the ability to participate

in topical debates, entertainment services, work-

shops and discussion groups regardless of their

geographical location” (AAL Programme).

With a strong focus on presenting TV as a

communication platform with social and

entertainment capabilities (although not only), it is

possible to identify projects as the

HELASCOL,

which aimed to provide the elderly people “(…)

with the means of maintaining social relations by

developing an easy to use and easy to understand

communication platform with social and

entertainment capabilities that can be easily

upgraded with security and medical features” (AAL

Programme) or the Silver Game, a multimedia

platform which combines a variety of game-based

applications, community features and web-based

services and that focuses on activities like singing,

dancing and driving to stimulate senior citizens and

encourage social interaction among them (AAL

Programme).

In the Portuguese context, some projects that are

developing TV applications for older adults also

have been arising. One example is the iNeighbour

TV project that aimed “to seize television (…) with

a related consumption that triggers conversations,

representing an important contribution (directly or

indirectly) to social network’s dynamics” (Social

iTV). Other example is +TV4E, a project that is

taking place and that intends to develop an

interactive television platform “(…) which allows

automatically the enrichment of television

experience with the integration of contents about

public and social services (…) considering the user’s

profile (age, geographic localisation, clinical

condition, etc.)” (Social iTV).

In the revision undertaken, projects and

initiatives that aim to encourage volunteering with

older adults using digital technologies were also

considered. Some examples of platforms that have

been used in real contexts, especially in US and

Canada, were identified, presenting the potential to

enhance users’ independence, connecting older

adults who want a service or support for a small

home-based task with people who are offering that

speciﬁc service/task such as volunteers, caregivers,

friends, neighbours or elderly associations.

One example is the “Drive a Senior” application,

which connects volunteers with older adults of

Austin, Texas, who no longer drive. This platform

offers transportation, companionship and minor

home repairs, that is, services that enable older

adults to continue living independently. Although

not restricted to be used with the aim of helping

older adults, it was possible to identify other several

platforms to support general voluntary activities

such as VolunteerMatch or VInpired. In the

Portuguese context, one of the biggest online

platform is “Bolsa de Voluntariado” (Volunteering

it is allowed to choose older adults in the target

group filter. What all these platforms have in

common is the fact they are only available as a

Website. Moreover, they only allow the direct

interaction between volunteers and organizations.

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“GozAround” is another platform similar to

VolunteerMatch but, on the other hand, allows the

direct connection between volunteers and offers.

Some applications, such as GoVolunteer provide

access not only through a website but also provide

mobile apps (both Android and IOS-based) for their

users. One aspect that emerged is that often these

platforms only allow that the needs of help are

registered by an organization and not by individuals.

Also, it is seen that most of the platforms promote

the evaluation of the volunteer, a practice that is

encouraged in the implementation of volunteer’s

networks (Moon and Sproull, 2008).

Regarding the use of TV to encourage and

support volunteering targeted at older adults, there

were no identified initiatives or projects with that

aim. An analysis of the applications of the TV

operators MEO and NOS (two main Portuguese TV

operators) was also undertaken, showing the absence

of TV applications with that goal.

The information presented throughout this topic

shows that major initiatives and projects that aim to

promote older adults’ well-being and active ageing

through ICT have been receiving a considerable

attention and that (web-enabled) TV has also been

playing a key role with the argument that TV-based

system ensures high user acceptance, overcoming

the digital divide affecting most of the aged people

associated to the use of PC or smartphone. It is also

possible to conclude that new forms of interaction,

as by voice, are being used and are here to stay, with

the aim of overcome several possible elderly

limitations. However, the use of voice as a means of

interacting with TV is not yet a very explored

scenario although a more widespread use may occur

soon since factors such as technological constraints

tend to be overcome. The revision undertaken also

emphasized that despite the existence of several

ICT-based products that could be used to support

volunteering activities with older adults, their use, at

least in Portugal, is not yet a reality and most

probably will be useful to younger generations

(International Federation of Red Cross and Red

Crescent Societies, 2015).

3 EXPLORATORY

QUESTIONNAIRES

3.1 Context

In addition to trying to understand whether ongoing

projects and initiatives regarding TV applications

and volunteering for older adults are currently

underway, which was described in the previous

section, it was considered of the upmost importance

to better know how key stakeholders see the

relevance and acceptance of having a TV application

which will allow older adults to request help from a

group of volunteers, in specific tasks of their daily

life. In the field of applications that promote the

volunteering aimed at the elderly, players such as

family members/caregivers, employees in

Institutions for older adults (such as nursing homes

or adult day care centres) and the elderly themselves

were considered key stakeholders that should be

consulted. The strategy chosen to accomplish this

was applying a questionnaire to a collection of

individuals representing those groups.

3.2 Method

A different questionnaire was developed and applied

in person to three groups of stakeholders: (1)

elderly; (2) responsible/employees in social care

institutions for older adults and (3) family

members/caregivers. The selection of the

participants was made by convenience. Not all

family members/caregivers included in the study

were related with the elderly that participated in the

study.

The questionnaires directed to (1) and (3)

included the following parts: a) sociodemographic

characterization; b) TV and technology consumption

habits and; c) potential usefulness of volunteering

and of using digital technologies and TV as an

interface for a volunteering platform and; d) tasks in

which it would be useful to get help from volunteers.

The questionnaire that was applied to (2) did not

include the b) part and part a) had less questions.

Data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel 2017

through simple descriptive analysis and content

analysis of responses to open questions. To describe

participants characteristics, central tendency and

dispersion measures were used, including mean,

range and standard deviation.

3.3 Results

The results from the questionnaires are presented

according to the target groups inquired.

3.3.1 Elderly

The number of elderly participants was 34 (32

women (94.1%) and two men (5.9%)). The

participants had an average age of 73.45 years (SD =

7.5), maximum of 90 and a minimum of 59 years.

Towards a Proposal of an Application to Promote Volunteering through Television to Help Older Adults

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All participants were retired. Half were married (n =

17), 12 participants were widowers (35.3%), two

were single (5.9%) and two were divorced (5.9%).

The education level reached by the majority

(n=23; 67.6%) was higher education, nine referred

secondary education (26,5%), and two participants

(5.9%) said basic education. About 94% of the

participants (n = 32) had TV at home and a paid TV

service and 23 of those used some functionality of

the box, namely: check the TV schedule (n = 17);

watch programs issued in the past (n = 12); schedule

recordings (n = 8); use apps about the weather (n =

3); use apps about sports (n = 2); see the time on the

programming screen (n = 2). Participants also

referred to watching, on average, 4 hours and 15

minutes of TV per day (SD = 1.92).

More than half of the respondents used

smartphones (53.1%), and the most commonly used

features were: receive/make phone calls (n = 17);

read messages (n = 17), write messages (n = 16),

save a new phone number (n = 17) and take pictures

(n = 16). In the other hand, the least used features

were: play (n = 2), use the agenda (n = 8) and save

notes (n = 8). About 91% of the participants

accessed the internet regularly, namely through a

computer (n = 29), smartphone (n = 12) or tablet (n

= 9).

Of the total participants, 25 (73.5%) said that it

would be useful to have access to a network of

volunteers who could support them in specific tasks,

seven participants (20.6%) did not consider it useful

and two participants (5.9%) did not respond.

Participants who answered negatively revealed some

difficulty in abstracting from their condition on that

date as they said they were still independent and did

not need any kind of support.

Only two participants did not consider digital

technologies useful for requesting help in specific

tasks. In terms of asking for help via TV, 26

participants (76.5%) said that this might be useful,

three (8.8%) did not find it useful and five (14.7%)

did not respond. Participants who did not find it

appropriate justified the choice by saying that it is

not easy to write on TV and the menus are difficult

to navigate. When questioned if they would use the

TV to launch help requests, not all the people that

considered the application useful said that they

would use it. 15 participants (44%) said they would

use it, 12 would not use it (35.3%) and seven

(20.6%) did not respond to this question. Some of

the justifications for the negative answers were:

difficulties in using the TV to make help requests

and the difficulty of making requests in an

emergency.

When questioned about which specific tasks they

considered that might be useful to get help from a

group of volunteers, the participants referred the

following categories: go shopping; accompany to the

doctor/hospital; accompany/ go on outings

(sightseeing, going to the cinema); household tasks

(preparing meals, cleaning, small household

maintenance).

3.3.2 Responsible/Employees in Social Care

Institutions for Older Adults

Six employees of institutions focused on the elderly

were included in this group, namely five women

(83.3%) and one man (16.7%). In terms of

responsibilities, four participants (66.7%) were

gerontologists in a social care institution (with

responsibilities for coordination and management),

one participant (16.7%) was a consultant/trainer in

gerontology and another participant (16.7%) was the

chairman of the board of a senior university.

All the participants considered that it would be

very useful for the elderly to have access to a

network of volunteers who could support them in

specific tasks, as all agree that access to this network

through easy digital technologies could be an asset

for this population segment. The positive and

unanimous opinion on the potential of the

technologies in this case was justified by need of

connection between the elderly and the outside

world. Another advantage pointed out was that

technological innovations are increasingly being

known by the older public, especially if they are

intuitive and easy to use.

Five participants (83.3%) considered that using

the TV to make requests would be helpful for the

elderly. The only participant who did not consider

this option viable said that TV does not seem to be

the most appropriate via when compared with

mobile phones, because in his opinion the latter has

more practical and user-friendly features.

Four participants (66.7%) agreed that older

adults would adhere to use TV to launch requests to

volunteers, one disagreed (16.7%) and another

(16.7%) assumed that perhaps this scenario could

happen. The participants with a more negative

position assumed that the use of technological

solutions may not attract the elderly population that

is detached from technological means. However, it is

perceived by them that TV could be a good incentive

and attractive to a future adhesion.

People with responsibilities/employees in

institutions for older adults also considered that

older adults could need help from a group of

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volunteers in the following tasks: go on outings

/accompanying (shopping, health services, post

office, public offices, hairdresser); buying

medication in situations of an emergency; assistance

in small household tasks; socio-emotional support;

company and; support in tasks that include the use of

technologies.

3.3.3 Family Members/Caregivers

Finally, eight family members/caregivers were

surveyed, six women (75%) and two men (25%),

with a mean age of 34.9 years (SD = 9.37). Five

participants were children of one or more elderly

people (62.5%) and the other three participants were

grandchildren (37.5%).

All the participants had a professional

occupation. Five participants (62.5%) have higher

education. All the participants referred to having TV

at home and use the internet regularly, and seven

(87.5%) used smartphones. Only one had no paid

TV service at home.

All participants found that it would be useful for

their family members to have access to a network of

volunteers who can support them in specific tasks.

Also, all agreed that digital technologies could be

useful to mediate this type of requests and five

(75%) also thought that the TV could play a

fundamental role in this. The frequency of TV use

and familiarization with this medium were the main

reasons pointed by the family members to consider

TV as an excellent medium to be used by older

adults (e.g. "TV is a device widely used by the

senior and is always connected" and "I think they

could easily learn to ask for help through TV").

Six participants considered that senior adhesion

would not be an issue and two disagreed (25%).

Whoever answered negatively justified this option

by saying that using the internet or the phone seems

to be simpler for their family member. One of these

participants also said that not knowing the

volunteers and exposing their privacy and residence

to strangers could be a factor of resistance to the use

of this type of application.

From the perspective of this group, the tasks in

which the elderly could request help were quite in

line with what was mentioned by the two other

groups of stakeholders analysed previously,

especially those tasks that require more physical

effort, namely gardening and other household tasks,

transportation/ accompanying to health services

centres or support in the installation and

maintenance of computer equipment.

3.3.4 Summary of the Collected Data

The elderly participants that took part in the study

presented a higher education level, use of paid TV,

use of smartphones and use of Internet in

comparison with other studies (Portuguese

Regulatory Authority for the Media, 2016).

Most of the elderly (73.5%) and all the

participants of the other groups found it useful to

have access to a network of volunteers who could

support them in specific tasks. Only two participants

(of the elderly group) did not consider digital

technologies useful for requesting help from a group

of volunteers in specific tasks. However, the

opinions of concordance are slightly lower when the

question is the use of TV to make those requests;

with the most mentioned reason being the difficulty

of using a TV remote control in comparison with,

for example, the mobile phone.

Not all the elderly participants that considered

the application useful said that they would use it but

almost half of the participants showed a willingness

to use it. Most of the participants in the other two

groups said that the elderly would adhere using TV

to launch requests to volunteers.

Finally, it was possible to verify that the three

groups have a very similar opinion regarding the

main categories of help requests. The main

categories identified were: Animals, Shopping,

Outings, Gardening, Leisure and Well-being, Meals,

Home repairs and Technology.

4 PROJECT’S AIM AND

REQUIREMENTS

Considering the results obtained from the literature

review and from the questionnaires applied to key

stakeholders, it was possible to reinforce the

relevance of a project whose aim is to develop a TV

application that allows older adults in their homes to

request help, in a simple and quick way, from a

group of volunteers in daily life tasks such as a ride

to the supermarket or simple household maintenance

such as changing a lamp. Excluded from these tasks

are those related with hygiene and medical care,

since these kinds of tasks are sensitive and should

typically be undertaken by specialized professionals.

To overcome difficulties related to the use of TV

remote control in the contexts of information

provision, it is proposed that the request could be

made by voice, although the possibility of making a

request by introducing information by TV remote

control could be also allowed. One important aspect

Towards a Proposal of an Application to Promote Volunteering through Television to Help Older Adults

197

that should be mentioned is that, in the meantime,

the relevance of this project has also been

recognized by one of the biggest Portuguese TV

service companies, resulting in financial support to

develop the project to be distributed through its TV

set-top box.

The scenario of developing to a set-top box

seems to be more adequate as the Smart TV (TV

directly connected to the Internet) as there is

evidence that a weak adhesion exists with regard to

the latter (Portuguese Regulatory Authority for the

Media, 2016). Since using a TV voice remote

control with the TV box for which the application

would be developed is not yet possible, the request

using voice would be done by voice call. The option

of having speech inputs through a telephone, which

is close to the speakers’ mouth, also brings the

advantage of strongly reducing the background noise

(a problem that affects voice systems that are

deployed in the home context).

The process of asking for help will start with the

choice of a request category. In terms of the

requests’ main categories, they were identified

drawing on the results that emerged from the

questionnaires. The next step in creating a new help

request is to choose the details of the request (phone

call or TV remote control). The request using voice

would be done as follows: when the user chooses

this option in the TV application, he is contacted via

telephone, the request is processed and is presented

in the TV application. Once the help request is

complete, the application will link the available

volunteers to the older adult who requested help. It

will also be possible for an elderly person to monitor

the status of the requests that could be one of the

following: a) waiting for the confirmation of the

volunteer; b) after a volunteer accepts, waiting for

the confirmation of the older adult that accepts that

volunteer; c) request waiting to be carry out and; d)

request carried out. The TV application will also

allow older adults to evaluate the help they have

been given. The goal is to accomplish this in an

analogous way to the process of asking for help (by

receiving a phone call to give feedback and, after the

feedback is processed, see it on the TV).

Although this article focuses only on the

application directed at older adults, it is important to

note that it is also foresee the development of a web

application to volunteers see all the requests and

accept those more convenient for them. In terms of

participants in the process, it is also considered

important that an organization exists to supervise the

process, guarantee security for both the older adults

and the volunteer and take part only in less normal

situations (for example, to understand the reasons

for the bad feedback of a volunteer or to take action

if any help request is a long time without a volunteer

assigned).

In terms of approach to the development process,

the choice falls on an iterative design and evaluation

methodology. This presupposes the development of

wireframes and high-fidelity non-functional

prototype before the implementation of the final

product and a constant refinement of the project,

considering the usability evaluations to be carried

out both with potential users as well as with

evaluators that will examine the interface using a set

of heuristics.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Volunteering targeting older adults is one of the

ways to allow people that do not have their family

members close to get help for daily life tasks, have a

companion or even continue lifelong learning. Older

adults consistently have lower rates of technology

adoption than the general public. In this way, the use

of TV, a technological environment which elderly

people are so much more familiar with seems to be a

natural and appropriate choice in terms of support

for an application to promote volunteering targeting

older adults. The intention of this article was to

present the general workflow and requirements

specification of a TV application that aims to

support older adults in requesting help from a group

of volunteers in daily life tasks to promote

volunteering. The review that was undertaken

revealed to be fundamental to understand the general

state of the art of TV applications targeting older

adults, to better know how voice interfaces are being

used in systems directed at older adults and identify

examples of volunteering initiatives that are using

digital technologies, specially websites, to support

their activities. The review also permitted to find

some projects that should be further analysed to

identify other aspects that are important to the

application design, mainly related with visual and

interaction design. Regarding questionnaires, the

data obtained was essential to better identify a set of

factors that could not allow a generalized acceptance

of the use of TV to ask for help from a group of

volunteers, despite being recognized by the diverse

groups of stakeholders that this type of applications

is important. The collected data was also essential

to identify the types of requests that seem to be more

useful to them.

ICT4AWE 2018 - 4th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health

198

The presented application proposal seems to

have the potential to be accepted and, therefore, used

in its target group, specially by people who are

currently middle aged, who are more used to

interacting with technology and will therefore

continue to utilize it as they age. Nevertheless, it is

essential that, during the next phases of design and

development lifecycle, potential users have a strong

involvement and that there is the aim of a continuous

improvement through carrying out usability

evaluations, to ensure that the system requirements

meet user needs and expectations. Finally,

considering the issues of trust and security for both

the older adults and the volunteers, it is essential to

further reflect about a model with the supervision of

an intermediary organization that would promote an

effective uptake of the TV application.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The research leading to this work received funding

from AlticeLabs@UA. The authors would like to

thank the support provided by the National

Association of Gerontologists in Portugal.

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