Abstract:
Mobile phones have played significant roles in all genders and ages, and the usage rate has been increasing rapidly every year in every age group, especially with the elderly. Moreover, this specific group of older adults is less likely to involve in all kinds of outdoor and social activities. Due to the importance of this issue, it can lead to mental problems, loneliness, and stress. This study aimed to develop online digital activities for this group of homebound older adults through the principle of an interface design for this age group. The expected result would make them more active in terms of exercising their brain and muscle activities. Based on the main findings from digital research tools and the research, the research developed a mobile phone interface design for homebound older adults and examined the result by measuring the relaxation via their brainwaves, while using the designed application. The tangible results are detected through a mobile EEG device. This design principle can be concluded that the appearance or the size of the buttons, text, screen touchpoints, color contrast ratio, etc., are useful for up to 62.5 percent of homebound older adults to feel more relaxed during this application. This design guideline works well with 75% of the homebound older adults who have a bachelor's degree or higher. Early older adults aged 60-69 years old were beneficial for this application at 75%. Both males and females had the same capability and usability. After the older adults used this application for two weeks, they tended to be more relaxed, up to 80% than the normal state. The main findings and testing procedure will help the homebound older adults gain more confidence, easier accessibility to mobile phones, and expand this knowledge in various interface designs.