Project Reference No.: UGC/IDS(C)15/H01/22
Project Title: Mapping the grey digital divide and diversity in older ICT users post-COVID: A mixed-method research informing service and policy development (Shue Yan)
Abstract
Information and communications technology (ICT) forms the backbone of our everyday communication. The pandemic has generated a ‘New Normal’ in which a significant portion of our physical encounters has been replaced by online alternatives. Large-scale digital interventions to contain the pandemic, such as track-and-trace apps and digital vaccine passports, may have expanded the use of ICT in some populations, but rendered low access, literacy and usage particularly disadvantageous for others. Pre-pandemic research has shown that older adults often fall behind their younger counterparts with respect to the use of ICT. However, recent reports in e-commerce (e.g., online shopping, e-banking) underscore a burgeoning silver hair e-market, possibly propelled by the pandemic. Hence, how much the diverse population of local older adults can catch up with the rapid digital transformation, and who are likely to need what kind of support remain pressing but unanswered questions. Under the backdrop of the efforts from the Hong Kong government and NGO to promote gerontechnologies, it is pivotal to first map out how local older adults use ICT in their everyday lives with robust, valid indicators.
This study attempts to fill three knowledge gaps which will be essential for developing a responsive, age-enabling ICT environment: (1) While traditional indicators of digital divide, such as smartphone and internet usage, have capped among middle-aged adults, and younger adults have taken work- or school-from-home as a normative practice, it is essential to review what constitutes informative ‘common denominators’ to map the differences in ICT access, literacy and usage between younger and older populations that may disadvantage the latter, especially after the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. These new indicators will involve more advanced and complex access, literacy and usage (e.g., online grocery shopping, generating content on social media, etc) than just smartphone ownership and internet use. (2) The heterogeneity in the demographics, health, ethical concerns and neighborhood characteristics of older adults may result in significant interpersonal differences in their ICT access, literacy and usage. A socio-culturally valid user typology for older ICT users will be needed for segmenting and diversifying support for digital inclusion. (3) Multi-level policies and services will be needed to support diverse older ICT users and nurture an age-friendly ICT environment.
Guided by a person-in-environment perspective, this project will involve six studies with three phases. Phase 1 will be an instrument development phase. Study 1 will be a focus group study with 144 adults aged 55 or above to examine the socio-culturally meaningful indicators of digital divide, dimensions for typologizing older ICT users as well as their ethical concerns over ICT. The results will inform Study 2, a pilot telephone survey with a representative sample of 900 younger and older adults, to develop quantitative instruments for measuring the digital divide, user typology and ethical concerns. Professionals will be consulted in Study 3 for refining the new instruments via a focus group study. Phase 2, a formal evaluation phase, will involve Study 4. With the help of spatial modelling, a large-scale, face-to-face survey with 1620 middle-aged and older adults will be conducted to examine the associations between ICT access, literacy and usage with biopsychosocial outcomes and the socio-spatial characteristics of the participants’ neighborhoods. Study 5 will be a comparative study for evaluating state- and community-level policies and interventions for fostering ICT usage in older adults in technologically-developed societies. The findings of Studies 1 to 5 will feed into a series of workshops and a Delphi study in Study 6 (Phase 3: solution generation phase) for generating service and policy directions and suggestions.
This project will refresh the society’s understanding of diversity in older adults’ ICT usage and provide a robust empirical basis for the development of responsive, empowering and age-inclusive ICT policies and support. It will also serve as an excellent example for international scholars, policy-makers and care professionals to periodically review their understanding of ICT usage in the growing population of older adults.
Project Reference No.: UGC/IDS(C)15/H02/22
Project Title: Human Resilience, Life Adversity, and Adaptation to Life Course Transitions from Early Adulthood to Late Middle Adulthood (Shue Yan)
Abstract
This proposed project aims at identifying individual, family, organizational, community, and social/cultural factors that contribute to human resilience. It also examines how resilience facilitates adaptation to critical life transitions in the face of adverse childhood experiences and life adversity. Mid-life is an important developmental stage that consists of multiple critical life transitions such as transition from education to work (early adulthood), to marriage/parenthood, (middle adulthood) and to pre-retirement (late-middle adulthood). However, mid-life is usually less studied in comparison to other developmental stages. The present project aims to fill this knowledge gap by focusing on resilience and adaptation to life transitions from early to late middle adulthood.
The proposed project is guided by the Integrated Dynamic Socioecological Life Course (IDSEL) model of resilience and adaptation. The IDSEL model is formulated by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from study disciplines in psychology, sociology, political science, economics, and applied data science. The IDSEL model views resilience as a process that changes over a person’s life course because of multiple developmental processes. Resilience is also influenced by individual, family, organization, community, and social/cultural factors. This proposed project consists of three tiers of investigation. Tier 1 investigations will include a 2-wave panel study with three age cohorts: Early (aged 21-26), middle (aged 30-50), and late middle adulthood (aged 55-65). Multilevel factors associated with individual resilience, adverse childhood experiences, current and chronic stress, life adversity, timing of significant life events as well as well-being outcomes will be measured at two time points to capture how resilience facilitates adaptation to critical life transitions. Tier 2 investigations will include four level studies to examine phenomenon that cannot be easily captured by the panel study. These level studies aim to identify biophysiological markers of resilience, explore whether resilience can be transmitted between parents and their children, determine the protective role of resilience in balancing the competing demands of work and family, and examine the relationship between citizen participation and resilience building. Tier 3 investigation will involve the analysis of big public data set such as Gallup, World Values Survey, economic indicators, and environmental data to identify national/community level resilient trajectories before and after collective adversities such as natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic. An advisory panel consisting of experts in relevant study disciplines and stakeholders such as social service providers and representatives from policy institutes will be formed to ensure their voices are incorporated in the project. The research team will meet with the advisory panel at the beginning of the project and at least once a year to discuss the progress.
This 3-tier project is the first local research project that focuses on resilience and adaptation from early to late middle adulthood. This project will broaden and deepen the understanding of multilevel determinants of resilience and how resilience contributes to adaptation to critical life transitions in the face of early and current life adversities. Evidence derived from the three tiers of investigations will be synergized and analyzed to fill such knowledge gaps as how factors in different levels interact with each other to influence resilience and adaptation. The composite and level-specific resilience scores derived from the project will serve as viable indicators of resilience for research and policy making. In addition, this project will provide baseline data for subsequent follow-up research to plot the pattern and trajectories of resilience and adaptation over the years for different adult cohorts. The knowledge generated from this proposed project will provide valuable information for designing resilience-building programs. Thus, the project will benefit researchers, professionals (e.g., social workers, teachers, counselors, economists), and policy makers.