Human Factors Research Needs for an Aging Population (1990) / Chapter Skim
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2. Human Factors Problems Associated with Aging
2. Human Factors Problems Associated with Aging
Pages 7-58
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From page 7... ...
Therefore, using chronological age to characterize or predict an older person's behavioral and functional capacities Is likely to prove inadequate. Many gerontology researchers have suggested that new methods are needed that more accurately describe a person's condition, capabilities, and maturational trajectory.
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From page 8... ...
The subsequent sections of this report will consider some data on the characteristics and needs of our aging population. ,, _ ~ , DEMOGRAPHICS, ECOLOGY, AND SOClO[OGY In order to provide a more complete picture of the subpopulation of interest, this section presents information regarding the living patterns of older adults.
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From page 9... ...
Table 2 presents data regarding the living arrangements of older people. It shows that most older adults live in a household either
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From page 10... ...
~ fact, the proportion of elderly women living alone has markedly increased since 1970. In general, the number of older people living in nursing homes has increased since 1960.
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From page 11... ...
Because suburban areas tend to have less accessible public transportation and older people generally find driving progressively difficult, it may be that greater attention should be paid to the mobility problems commonly experienced by the elderly in order to enhance their functional independence. Regarding employment status, as shown In Table 3, the labor force participation rates of older adults are declining.
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From page 12... ...
12 HUMAN FACTORS RESEARCH NEEDS FOR AN AGING POPULATION TABLE 3 Labor Force Participation Rates by Age and Sex Through 1995 (percent) Population Actual Group 1981 Estimated Projected 1985 1990 1995 Total 106,393 (thousands)
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From page 13... ...
an increasing number of older people live atone at home; (2) older people spend the majority of their time at home, with a large portion of this time allocated to personal daily living activities; (3)
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From page 14... ...
Their data give a more detailed picture of how older people allocate their time to various daily living activities (Table 63. The data also indicate that older people allocate ~ large portion of their tune to home tasks, to the extent that 82 percent of ~]
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From page 15... ...
poisoning from gases and vapors (Sterm, Barrett, and Alexander, 1985~. The reasons for the high frequency of such accidents are complex but likely include the fact that older people spend a majority of their time at home; age-related changes in functional abilities make it more diffiluit to complete home tasks; and the demands of the home environment are often substantive in that the homes of the elderly tend to be older than those of younger people, are more likely to be difficult to operate and maintain, and are more often in need of repair.
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From page 16... ...
For example, housing can be designed to minimize the number of trips up and down stairs for people who spend most of their time indoors. In addition, the fictional requirements associated with home tasks need to be examined and compared with data on the capabilities of older adults In order to determine why they are difficult for the elderly.
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From page 17... ...
identified consumer products and environments that are hazardous to people aged 55 and over and conducted a human factors analysis of the most hazardous products. This allowed the difficulties inherent in the human-product-enviromnent interface to be identified and also highlighted possible intervention strategies.
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From page 18... ...
Their data also include the types of problems experienced with these tasks, such as reaching and bending for cooking items while prepping meals, and problems locating items ~ grocery stores. The data alto indicate that other problems older people may encounter include performing tasks related to cooking, such as reading
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From page 19... ...
of independent elderly women aged 65-74 reported that over 35 percent have difficulty life mg or carrying 25 pounds, while an other 10 percent are completely unable to lift or carry that weight. Even at 10 pounds, lifting or carrying ~ difficult for over 10 percent and impossible for about 4 percent of the study population.
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From page 21... ...
The mode} of Faletti's research can be applied in cros+sectional, and ultimately longitudinal, fashion to highlight how people's operation of utensils, fixed environmental features, and visual displays changes with sensory, motor, and perhaps cognitive decline. Current method of ADL performance amendment do not permit differentiation among those elderly who are still independent, have altered their task behavior, given up some tasks in order to mental competence ~ others, or substituted prostheses for inefficient body structures.
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From page 22... ...
representative data on the frequency of home activities among older people, (2) detailed knowIedge regarding rlifliculties older people have in performing home tasks, (3)
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From page 23... ...
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the early retirement trend will continue into the l990s and the labor force participation rates of people aged 65 ~d older will continue to decline. The decline In work activity among older persons is problematic from severe perspectives.
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From page 24... ...
The relationship between aging and performance in the workplace is complex. General aspects of employee performance include accident rates, absenteeism, turnover, grievances, and productivity.
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From page 25... ...
They performed a meta~analysm of over 65 studies and conclucled that age and job performance are unrelated. However, they caution that most of the studies they examined were cross sectional and involved small samples.
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From page 26... ...
Specific examples of age ejects are discussed here in terms of potential implications for job activities, and these examples should serve to highlight needed research in the area of aging and work performance. The decline in average visual functioning with age ~ well documented.
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From page 27... ...
However, data regarding the actual impact of agerelay changes ~ vision on the performance of jobs are limited. For example, in the microelectronics inclustry, visual inspection of chips and circuit boards ~ an important task, yet there are relatively few industrial data comparing age groups on Austrian inspection tyke.
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From page 28... ...
To a large extent, su~ regulation of automation has been considered only from the perspective of job satisfaction as opposed to job performance. Although age changes in paced tasks have been obeer~red in laboratory and ability testing situations (Salthouse, 1985)
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From page 29... ...
Attempting to conform to a faster pace can enhance stress, because sources of task strew include both intrinsic m~d perceived demand of a task. The elderly tend to be more cautious during task performance, emphasizing correct decisions and precision in their work.
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From page 30... ...
Because spatial skim are ~n~rol~red a variety of jobs (requiring, for example, vehicle control or visual search) , the extent of age changes In spatial cognition needs to be more fully understood ~ terms of job performance (Czaja, 1987~.
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From page 31... ...
Problems of restricted mobility are common Hong older adults, and their rate of tragic accidents is high. These facts powt to the need for applying human factors techniques to the study of transportation for an aging population.
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From page 32... ...
to driving performance have been only moderately successful (Hills, 1980~. For example, the most common vision tests used in licensing have little predictive power.
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From page 33... ...
FIGURE 2 Summary of Charactermtice of Accidents of Older Dri~re" tragic level, and time of day, that may contribute to the problems encountered by older drivers (Kline, 1987~. The following discussion will summarize what is known about how these variables influence driving behaviors and will suggest areas where additional research is needed.
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From page 34... ...
These include a decline ~ Visual acuity; a loss of contrast sensitivity; and changes In dark adaptation, dynamic Visual acuity, motion detection, and in the size of the Usual field and Usual search abilities (Kline, 1986~. Acm" Although static acuity is used most often by licensing agencies to determine visual fitness for driving (20/40 corrected vision being the common cutoff)
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From page 35... ...
For this reason research on the extent of visual field and visual search ability with moving stimuli would likely yield better predictors of driving performance than the current tests of acuity. Nevertheless, there still exists a need to establish more clearly how static acuity is related to driving skill, especially for older Snorers, given that static acuity testing ~ likely to remam the common screening method for some tune.
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From page 36... ...
These data suggest that more research ~ needed to ebonize the relationship between size of the visual field and driving performance. Visual field research that systematically varies target size, luminance, wavelength, contr~t, and temporal characteristics might yield screening and design criteria that would be especially useful for licensing older drivers.
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From page 37... ...
Dark Adaptation Another aspect of visual functioning that may be critical to driving performance, and that declines with age, is dark adaptation. The literature suggests that older individuals do not adapt as weD to lowered leveb of ill nation as do younger adults.
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From page 38... ...
One element of such a research program might be to determine the extent to which task performance can be ether ced by changes in lighting conditions. Beyond some minimum level the quality of illumination (e.g., direction, wavelength)
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From page 39... ...
snd visual acuity add fatigue (Maas, Jayson, and Kleiber, 1974~. Additional study will be necessary to accurately amess the impact of the spectral characteristics of light on specific transportation task performance, such as scene recognition, target detection, and sign, marker, and instrument reading.
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From page 40... ...
It ~ not clear that this standard provides frail or very old pedestrians with adequate time to make street crossings nor ~ such a speed calculation necessarily appropriate ~ the design of public transportation terminal and travel connection schedules for older persons. Human factors research in this area would prey sumably include task analyses of characteristic transportation tasks
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From page 41... ...
What ~ needed are descriptive data regarding the types of transportation older people use, why they choose these forms of transportation, and what kinds of problems they encounter. A task
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From page 42... ...
These are only a few of the are" that need human factors attention. There are clear and pressing gaps in our knowledge of age differences in the performance of tasks related to transportation.
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From page 43... ...
There are four are" where human factors engineering can mter~rene to improve speech comprehension in the elderly: (1) the sender~eveloping speech systems that account for decrements in audition (e.g., loss of sensitivity to high-fiequency components)
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From page 44... ...
Factors that may affect an individual's ability to read text include a loss of visual acuity, declines ~ aCcornrnodation and contrast sensitivity, and changes in visual search. Changes in ~nformation-proce~sing abilities, such as difficulty discriminating between relevant and irrelev~t stimuli, may also reduce an older person's ability to read text.
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From page 45... ...
The World Health Organization estimates that each year 5 to 10 percent of the population in developed countries suffers significant injury In domestic accidents. The elderly, children, and housewives are overrepresented in home accidents, no doubt redecting their greater exposure.
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From page 46... ...
These data are Tom the 1985 Product Summary Report of the National Electronic Injury Sur~reiDa~ce System (NElSS) of the Consumer Products Commission (CPSC)
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From page 47... ...
CPercent hospitalized from total sample -- reflects severity. Source: Data from National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, 1985.
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From page 48... ...
Accidental Injuries to ElderI~r Pati~ts Accidental injuries to elderly patients pose a growing problem for hospital, nursing homes, and other residential care facilities (Newman, 1985~. FaDs and fires are especially severe problems.
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From page 49... ...
developed 8 detailed analysis of six of the most hazardous products for persons over 55. In p~ticul=, they reported on a detailed human factors analysis of bathtubs/showers.
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From page 50... ...
Adult women carrying children or objeeb, often in dark unable to activate light switch Adult women in high heels children ascending Anyone: often unfamiliar places Anyone S.7 Anyone S.7. Anyone, but Specially elderly and disabled S.0 Anyone Treads too shallow d.2 People with large feet, heavy shoes, or, in extremes, most adults Irregular treacle or rmere or S.8 Anyone any iregulanty Small flight (1 or 2 neer)
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From page 51... ...
argues that the older m~le-aged worker wiD be the dominant labor force mue In the coming yea=. While a great deal of research on occupational accidents has been done, some of it in the area of human factors safety, studies ~d descriptive data on the oilier m~e-agecI employee and the elderly employee are limited.
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From page 52... ...
A parallel change has been occurring in new work technologies, such as numerical control, robotics, flexible manufacturing, and computera~ded design. It ~ not clear what these changes In technology and the composition of the work force may mean for safety Dues ~ an aging population.
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From page 53... ...
are exampies of such unpro~rements. The potential impact of environmental design ~ shown by the observed decrease In pedestrian accidents associated with zebra-striped crossings and diagonal parking.
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From page 54... ...
Research has been primarily concerned with sociological and postdisaster events, such as the ability to cope with the lom suffered. Other research has studied the behavior of the disabled and the elderly ~ hospitals, nursing homes, and residential care facilities after fires (Archea, 1979~.
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From page 56... ...
, it will be essential to provide meaningful and varied leisure services. In order for human factors specialists to make contributions in this area, basic information is needed regarding current leisure patterns of older people.
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From page 57... ...
Such results are predicated on an underst8Dding of what types of problems older people encounter when attempting leisure pursuits and identifying strategies to circumvent those problems. Currently, there are only limited data regarding the reasons older people choose to participate in one type of leisure activity as opposed to another ~d what types of obstacles they encounter.
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From page 58... ...
58 GUAM FACTOR ITCH IS FOR ~ AGOG POPUM"ON ~ 8u~y, the forgoing human factors reteach is warranted within the area of leisure "d recreation: (1) data regarding current leisure patterns of older adults, including types of activities pursued, frequency of participation in activities, and reams for choice of activities; (2)
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