A usability gap between older adults and younger adults on interface design of an Internet-based telemedicine system

Internet-based telemedicine is becoming an effective tool to deliver home-healthcare services and health information on demand, especially in rural areas, where there is often a large elderly population with greater rates of preventable chronic diseases. However, the designs of current interfaces for these internet-based telemedicine systems do not take elderly user characteristics into consideration. This study conducted usability testing on the interface of an internet-based telemedicine system using two different age groups, young adults and older adults. Differences in overall performance and satisfaction between the two groups were identified. Based on these results, a future direction is suggested for the interfaces of Internet-based telemedicine systems.