Usability Assessment of a Conversational Agent Among Older Adults Ages 65+: Gender and Marital Status Differences

Understanding how technology enhances the well-being of older adults is crucial with an aging population. While smart technologies hold promise, older adults often abandon or disuse many of these technologies. Evidence suggests that spousal support might improve user experience, but there is limited quantitative research investigating whether differences in user experience exist between individuals of different marital statuses. A five (relationship type) by two (gender) ANOVA was performed using an archival dataset with 194 older adults ( x̅ age = 69.5). Results indicated no significant effects for marital status, F (4, 190) = 0.99, p > 0.05, or gender, F (1, 190) = 2.18, p > 0.05, on user experience. However, the interaction effect was significant F (4, 190) = 3.04, p < 0.05. Post hoc analysis revealed a significant difference ( p < 0.05) in user experience scores between widowed males ( x̅ = -1.17, σ = 1.36) and widowed females ( x̅ = 0.30, σ = 0.91). These results suggest a gender difference between widowed individuals, with females exhibiting higher user experience scores than males. No other significant pairwise comparisons were found. Further exploration of the role of spousal support in technology use within this demographic is necessary.