Application Development on Android Smartphones to Assess Activities of Daily Living in Aging: ADLA for Public Health Personnel, Tambon Health Promoting Hospital, Sainoi District, Nonthaburi Province

Abstract

The Subdistrict Health Promoting Hospitals in Sai Noi District, Nonthaburi Province had observed that 2.50% of the elderly in their areas were unable to help themselves; and the health personnel were insufficient, resulting in inadequate service provision. In this regard, the development of a suitable applications could be a tool to improve the quality of care for the elderly. This research and development aimed to develop an application on smartphones with the android operating system for evaluating the elderly according to Activities of Daily Living in Aging (ADLA). Altogether 30 public health personnel from subdistrict health promoting hospital in Sai Noi District were purposively selected. The data collection tool was a questionnaire; and the data were analyzed using the Paired sample t-test. The results of the study revealed that the application was successfully developed for smartphones with Android operating system by using the program to created applications, namely Android studio, consisting of (1) login page to access the application ADLA case, (2) elderly history, (3) elderly assessment form, (4) elderly segmentation according to the results of the assessment of the elderly; and (5) the content of the elderly care. The personnel had significantly higher knowledge for elderly care when using the application, with the mean score of 17.93±1.82 compared to 14.73±2.29 before using the application. As for the assessment of satisfaction with the application in the overall aspects, the score was also at a higher level (Mean=4.35±0.63 SD). Therefore, the developed ADLA application could be used for the assessment of the elderly with regard to their ability to perform daily activities.