Development and usability evaluation of VOICES: A digital health tool to identify elder mistreatment

Background/Objectives A major barrier for society in overcoming elder mistreatment is an inability to accurately identify victims. There are several barriers to self‐reporting elder mistreatment, including fear of nursing home placement or losing autonomy or a caregiver. Existing strategies to identify elder mistreatment neglect to empower those who experience it with tools for self‐reporting. In this project, we developed and evaluated the usability of VOICES, a self‐administrated digital health tool that screens, educates, and motivates older adults to self‐report elder mistreatment. Design Cross‐sectional study with User‐Centered Design (UCD) approach. Setting Yale School of Medicine and the Agency on Aging of South‐Central Connecticut. Participants Thirty eight community‐dwelling and cognitively intact older adults aged 60 years and older, caregivers, clinicians, and social workers. Intervention A tablet‐based self‐administrated digital health tool that screens, educates, and motivates older adults to self‐report elder mistreatment. Measurements Qualitative and quantitative data were obtained from: (1) focus groups participants including: feedback from open‐ended discussion, demographics, and a post‐session survey; (2) usability evaluation including: demographics, usability measures, comfortability with technology, emotional state, and open‐ended feedback. Results Focus group participants (n = 24) generally favored using a tablet‐based tool to screen for elder mistreatment and expressed comfort answering questions on elder mistreatment using tablets. Usability evaluation participants (n = 14) overall scored VOICES a mean System Usability Scale (SUS) score of 86.6 (median = 88.8), higher than the benchmark SUS score of 68, indicating excellent ease of use. In addition, 93% stated that they would recommend the VOICES tool to others and 100% indicated understanding of VOICES' information and content. Conclusion Our findings show that older adults are capable, willing, and comfortable with using the innovative and self‐administrated digital tool for elder mistreatment screening. Our future plan is to conduct a feasibility study to evaluate the use of VOICES in identifying suspicion of mistreatment.