Enhancing the attitudes and self-efficacy of older adults toward computers and the Internet: Results of a pilot study

This pilot study explored whether a manualized training program could enhance older adults' computer self-efficacy and attitudes toward computers and the Internet. A total of 32 community-dwelling adults 65 years of age or older were randomly assigned to either an experimental or control group, with each group consisting of 8 women and 8 men. The experimental group received 6 weeks of training with two-hour one-on-one sessions once per week. The same training was administered to the control group upon completion of the posttest, 6 weeks after the baseline assessment, to match the procedures on all counts with the exception of training administration. The results of two ANOVAs indicated that participants within the experimental group improved significantly on both their computer self-efficacy (p <.001) and attitudinal scores (p <.001) at the posttraining assessment. No improvements were found in the control group.