Co-designing Participatory Strategies with Older Adults: Reducing Perceived Risk and Promoting Digital Inclusion

As the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted, digital engagement is crucial for fostering social inclusion for older adults, with the capacity to navigate risks and take up information and communication technologies (ICT) critical to their wellbeing. However, perceived risks are one of the main reasons many older adults do not engage with ICT and the digital economy. A lack of understanding and ability to navigate risk can limit their online interactivity. Our report explains the perceived risks that affect older adults the most and outlines co-designed strategies that respond to their lived experiences of ICT – connecting practices with perceptions. In addressing such concerns about better equipping older Australians to engage with the digital economy, this research has adopted an innovative multidisciplinary approach in collaboration with the University of the Third Age (U3A) Network Victoria and the City of Whittlesea, as seen throughout the project’s four phases. The initial ‘exploring and understanding phases’ through 2021 focused on examining risk perceptions amongst the U3A Victoria cohort, analysing findings from a membership survey, and investigating lived experiences through exploratory interviews. The following two phases – co-design and dissemination during 2022 – saw the research team collaborate through workshops with several local groups to create strategies and tools that help inform the practices of older adults and reduce their perceptions of ICT risk.<p></p>