An Audiobook-based Intervention on Community-dwelling Older Adults in Concepción, Chile

The worldwide population over 60 years of age is increasing. Thus, older adults should maintain interest and participate in social and family activities to help preserve their independence and promote their well-being. Wellbeing is a part of human health in its most general sense which manifests itself in all areas of human activity. Leisure activities such as listening to an audiobook may provide enjoyment and promote relaxation in older people and help improve the well-being of older adults.

A quasiexperimental study to assess the impact of an audiobook mobile application on the well-being perception of older adults and the usability of this application will be conducted during the fourth quarter of 2023. In this study, participants will be compared with themselves at the beginning and at the end of the intervention, that is, a pretest/posttest with a single group.

The first stage corresponds to recruiting community-dwelling older adults, to be done at a community center. With the older adults who agree to participate in the study, the researchers will do the second stage (screening), which consists of determining who can participate in the study by applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria (third stage). Before starting the intervention, participating older adults must accept and sign a written consent (fourth stage). Then, a baseline (fifth stage) will be established by applying standardized and validated tests to the participating older adults, who will then have an induction session to install the application on their smartphones, learn how to use the application and get answers to any questions the participants might have (sixth stage). In the intervention (seventh stage), the participants will use the application for four weeks, with a follow-up at 2 weeks (eighth stage). After these four weeks of application use, the older adults will be evaluated through standardized tests (ninth stage).

The participants will be recruited from the Community Rehabilitation Center (CRC) at Concepcion, Chile. A sample of 60 older adults participated in a similar study to ours. Thus, a non-probabilistic type of sampling will be used for the convenience of the study. In particular, a minimum of 30 participants and a maximum of 60 will be considered to allow obtaining data from the different quintiles and genders within the sample.

Recruitment flyers will be posted on the walls of the CRC to make an open call to all people over 60 being treated at that place. Furthermore, group meetings scheduled by the researchers will be held at the CRC offices to invite older adults to participate in the research. Older adults interested in the study will register by giving their name and telephone number, and will be contacted later by the researchers.