Hello everyone. I'm Novia Nurain.
A health informatics PhD student
at Indiana University.
Today I'm going to present
our paper, older adults'
experiences of autonomy
during COVID-19 pandemic.
Covid-19 pandemic has captured
our attention throughout the last year.
According to New York Times
around 30.9 million
COVID cases have been
reported till April 6th, 2021.
The number is even worse
for older adults.
According to CDC,
eight out of ten deaths have
been reported among people aged 65 and above.
Around 45 percent of US
older adults mentioned that
they haven't experienced major changes
in their lifestyle due to the pandemic.
Older adults are facing even more challenges.
They are at higher risk
of having adverse outcomes.
They use less technology and rely
more on in-person interactions and services.
Furthermore,
disease mitigation efforts such as
social distancing and self quarantining
have impacted their autonomy.
In this paper, we
investigate how older adults
experience of autonomy is
influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic.
To answer this research question,
we conducted semi-structured
interviews over Zoom
with 15 older adults
living in community dwelling in Bloomington.
We analyzed our collected data
using thematic analysis.
Our findings have uncovered
several factors of autonomy.
First, we will talk about
the requirements of autonomy.
Participants mentioned that having
technological competence, own transportation,
financial security,
and decision-making power allowed
them to have a sense of autonomy.
For instance, one participant mentioned
that she knew how to use computer,
she is able to participate in
online social activities during the lockdown.
Then we have identified four factors
that hinder the feeling of
autonomic during the pandemic.
The first factor is
government rules and regulation.
One participant mentioned that
she's not able to go anywhere do
to stay at home orders, unless
it is to get food or to go to doctors.
The second factor is lack of control.
Participants mentioned that the uncertainty of
the pandemic situation
impacted their decision-making process.
The third factor is influenced from others.
One participant mentioned that
her family and friends did not allow
her to go to the grocery store
just to protect herself from the virus.
And the last factor is
perceived risk of getting infected.
Participants mentioned that even though
the churches started
their in-person activities,
they are not attending those
as they fear to get infected.
Finally, we have seen tensions
between support seeking and autonomy.
However, older adults
compromised autonomy to ensure their safety.
For instance, we have seen that participants
didn't want others to
make decisions for their grocery.
But when it come down to health risk,
they're willing to let
others buy groceries for them.
Based on our findings,
we have provided design consideration
for potential socio-technological support systems
for older adults.
Systems could be designed to enhance
older adults experience of
autonomy by providing them more agency.
For example, a system that
allows older adults to choose items in
a store using
synchronous video or VR.
Systems could also be designed around
trust building between the older adults and
unknown people who will be
making purchasing decisions
for their grocery.
For example, assignment of
the same people to deliver
groceries to a specific older adult.
Then over time, they will be
able to understand older adults preferences.
In conclusion, in this paper,
we have explored older adults experience
of autonomy during the pandemic.
We have identified
several factors of autonomy and
provide design suggestions for
future socio technological support systems.
Thank you all. If you have
any further question and suggestion,
please reach out to us over e-mail.