Centre for Policy on Ageing



Using the Internet to build bridges to isolated older people
Author(s)	Rick Swindell
Journal title	Australasian Journal on Ageing, vol 19, no 1, February 2000
Pages	pp 38-40
Keywords	Information technology ; Computers ; U3A ; Isolation ; Australia.
Annotation	This paper reports on a study of a programme called Isolated Bytes (IB), which appears to be the first Internet programme to be developed by older people specifically to assist older people. In essence the IB concept is a University of the Third Age (U3A) without walls. Characteristics, aspirations and perceptions of the impact of the courses were obtained from 29 of 34 participants who completed pre- and post- course surveys and telephone interviews. Nearly 75% of the participants were women aged 65 years and over. Few were experienced Internet users. More than half lived in large cities but regarded themselves as isolated by circumstances such as poor health or caregiving. The majority wanted to continue to use the Internet for personal development and to communicate with others. The paper concludes that the Internet may be able to enrich the lives of isolated older adults. (AKM).
Accession Number	CPA-000509413 A
Classmark	UVB: 3O: V5A: TP: 7YA
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.