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: Digitalt berättande för äldre användare

Abstract

The world's population is ageing and the number of elderly technology users increases. For this user group loneliness has become a public health concern which is likely to continue growing along with the rising digitalisation. Worsened mental and physical health in elderly users has also been attributed to loneliness. Measures aiming to reduce loneliness should focus on strengthening users’ existing social bonds; one way to achieve this is through intergenerational storytelling and reminiscing. This paper evaluates how a digital artefact could be designed for intergenerational storytelling, with a focus on the elderly users’ engagement. To fulfil this research objective, we created a prototype of a mobile application for intergenerational storytelling. The prototype was tested together with four elderly (74 – 92 years) users in a qualitative study of semi-structured interviews. The stepwise deductive-inductive approach was used to analyse the empirical data.  

The most important findings of this study indicate that: storytelling of memories is a process; triggers should be designed together with both the elderly users and their audience; security and control are important; receiving an answer is motivating to the elderly users. 

These conclusions can be used as a guide for design of digital services that aim to support elderly users in their intergenerational storytelling.