The purpose of the study was to overview the current status of computer
education for the elderly people and to examine the impact of computer
education on their life satisfaction. The sample of this explorative study
consisted of a total of 204 elderly people who were recruited from the local
elderly centers and community centers in four different districts in Seoul.
Among the 204 participants, 97 received computer education whereas the other
107 had never had computer education before. The data was analyzed by
frequency tests, means and deviations, t-tests and X² using SPSSWIN 12.0.
The primary results of the study were as follows:
Most of the elderly who received computer education participated in the
program in order to cope with the changes and to avoid loneliness. The
majority of them received free, basic education which lasted for less than six
months at the elderly centers. They were satisfied because they acquired new
knowledge and skills. However, they expressed needs for implementation of
individualized tutoring systems, long-term education programs and elder-friendly
computer environments. The Internet medical counseling, e-mails and cyber
communities were the areas they wanted to use computer knowledge.
Meaningful difference was found in life satisfaction between the elderly people
who had participated in computer education and who had not. It was concluded
that the computer education can be an effective means of raising the level of
life satisfaction among elderly people. Suggestions were made to improve the
quality of computer education for the elderly.