Investigating the Acceptability of an Interactive Television Intervention Promoting Social Links Among Older Adults Living at Home and in Care Institutions: Qualitative Interview and Questionnaire Study

Background: When older adults (OAs) can no longer live independently at home, they have the option to choose from various types of geriatric care institutions, such as residential facilities or nursing homes. For several years now, thanks to the development of interactive television (iTV), social link functions have been accessible directly on televisions, tools that are already integrated into residents' rooms. The acceptance of technologies specifically targeting older users, as well as iTV, has been widely documented in the literature, incorporating factors from the innovation resistance model.

Objective: This research aims to enrich the acceptance of existing models of innovation by OAs living in different settings.

Methods: User tests were carried out to evaluate OAs' experiences with iTV and identify the factors involved in its acceptance. A total of 32 OAs living at home, in nursing homes, or in residential facilities in France were interviewed between November 2022 and June 2023. iTV acceptance was examined using an interview grid based on the technology acceptance model and included the following factors: intention to use, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, user resistance, anxiety, facilitating conditions, and user characteristics.

Results: The deductive qualitative analysis based on the technology acceptance model helped to identify 33 concepts.

Conclusions: This study has contributed to the literature on the acceptance of iTV by OAs living at home and in geriatric institutions, particularly by enriching existing models and proposing new avenues for reflection.