A New Tool for Assessing Mobile Device Proficiency in Older Adults: The Mobile Device Proficiency Questionnaire

Mobile device proficiency is increasingly required to participate in society. Unfortunately, there still exists a digital divide between younger and older adults, especially with respect to mobile devices (i.e., tablet computers and smartphones). Training is an important goal to ensure that older ad...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of applied gerontology Vol. 37; no. 2; pp. 131 - 156
Main Authors Roque, Nelson A., Boot, Walter R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.02.2018
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Competence
Internet access
Older people
Personal communications systems
Questionnaires
Smartphones
Training
mobile devices
survey
questionnaire
technology
computers
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Summary:Mobile device proficiency is increasingly required to participate in society. Unfortunately, there still exists a digital divide between younger and older adults, especially with respect to mobile devices (i.e., tablet computers and smartphones). Training is an important goal to ensure that older adults can reap the benefits of these devices. However, efficient/effective training depends on the ability to gauge current proficiency levels. We developed a new scale to accurately assess the mobile device proficiency of older adults: the Mobile Device Proficiency Questionnaire (MDPQ). We present and validate the MDPQ and a short 16-question version of the MDPQ (MDPQ-16). The MDPQ, its subscales, and the MDPQ-16 were found to be highly reliable and valid measures of mobile device proficiency in a large sample. We conclude that the MDPQ and MDPQ-16 may serve as useful tools for facilitating mobile device training of older adults and measuring mobile device proficiency for research purposes.
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ISSN:0733-4648
1552-4523
DOI:10.1177/0733464816642582