Combatting social isolation and increasing social participation of older adults through the use of technology: A systematic review of existing evidence
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVES: There are growing concerns that social isolation presents risks to older people's health and well-being. Thus, the objective of the review was to explore how technology is currently being utilised to combat social isolation and increase social participation, hence improving social outcomes for older people. METHODS: A systematic review of the literature was conducted across the social science and human-computer interaction databases. RESULTS: A total of 36 papers met the inclusion criteria and were analysed using a four-step process. Findings were threefold, suggesting that: (i) technologies principally utilised social network services and touch-screen technologies; (ii) social outcomes are often ill-defined or not defined at all; and (iii) methodologies used to evaluate interventions were often limited and small-scale. CONCLUSION: Results suggest a need for studies that examine new and innovative forms of technology, evaluated with rigorous methodologies, and drawing on clear definitions about how these technologies address social isolation/participation.
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Several review papers have explored the effects of ICT interventions, social media use, and video calls on social isolation and/or social participation in older adults.
“Several review papers have explored the effects of ICT interventions, social media use, and video calls on social isolation and/or social participation in older adults (Baker et al., 2018;Chen & Schulz, 2016;Khosravi et al., 2016;Noone et al., 2020)”
From The relationship between social media use and psychosocial outcomes in older adults: A systematic review (2024) · cites this paper as Baker et al., 2018
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Interrogating Social Virtual Reality as a Communication Medium for Older Adults
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- Authors
- Baker, S., Warburton, J., Waycott, J., Batchelor, F., Hoang, T., Dow, B., Ozanne, E., & Vetere, F.
- Affiliations
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- La Trobe University (AU)
- National Ageing Research Institute (AU)
- Deakin University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Baker, Steven
- ORCID
- Venue
- Australasian Journal on Ageing
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2018-07-19
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 184-193
- ISSN
- 0726-4240 (ISSN-L)
- 1440-6381
- 1741-6612
- OpenAlex
- W2884397908
- Cited by
- 171
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 32 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 4.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Licence
- Locations
- Australian Journal on Ageing (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion)
- Own your potential (DEAKIN) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Griffith Research Online (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Australian Research Council (DP160101368)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Demography › Technology Use by Older Adults
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Aging, Elder Care, and Social Issues
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
- Keywords
- social isolation, social participation (health and rehabilitation), older adults, technology-based interventions, social networking sites, touch screen technology, human-computer interaction, intervention evaluation
- MeSH terms
- Age Factors, Aged, Aging, Attitude to Computers, Family Relations, Female, Humans, Male, Quality of Life, Social Isolation, User-Computer Interface, Video Games, Internet, Friends, Computers, Handheld, Social Participation, Social Networking, Mobile Applications
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