{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,13]],"date-time":"2026-03-13T22:52:04Z","timestamp":1773442324180,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":62,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,6,22]],"date-time":"2017-06-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1498089600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Informatics"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Smart mobile devices, due to their ubiquitous nature and high level penetration in everyday life, can be a key component of an Ambient Assisted Living system to improve the quality of life of older people. This paper presents the development and evaluation of Senior App Suite, a system created for assisting seniors\u2019 personal independence and social inclusion. The system integrates mobile computing combined with web and service-oriented technologies to offer a mobile application suite that seniors can easily use to access services, spanning various application areas such as social networking, emergency detection and overall well-being. The research hypothesis is that using such services can be beneficial for decreasing social isolation. There is quantitative indication that this assumption is realistic backed up also by the qualitative analysis from the user\u2019s feedback derived during a pilot study (n = 22) suggesting that Senior App Suite can motivate people in new activities, maintain connection with social ties, give joy and self-confidence, and increase the frequency and quality of social interactions. Our contribution is a detailed methodology spanning the research, design, development, and evaluation of a solution that aims to improve the quality of life of seniors while addressing open issues identified in related initiatives.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/informatics4030015","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,6,23]],"date-time":"2017-06-23T08:16:18Z","timestamp":1498205778000},"page":"15","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":33,"title":["Development and Evaluation of a Mobile Application Suite for Enhancing the Social Inclusion and Well-Being of Seniors"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"4","author":[{"given":"Christos","family":"Goumopoulos","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Information & Communication Systems Engineering Department, University of the Aegean, Samos 832 00, Greece"},{"name":"Dynamic Ambient Intelligent Systems Unit, Computer Technology Institute and Press Diophantus, Patras 265 04, Greece"}]},{"given":"Ilia","family":"Papa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Information & Communication Systems Engineering Department, University of the Aegean, Samos 832 00, Greece"}]},{"given":"Andreas","family":"Stavrianos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Science and Technology, Hellenic Open University, Patras 263 35, Greece"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,6,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2017, May 18). World Population Ageing 2013. Available online: http:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/development\/desa\/population\/publications\/pdf\/ageing\/WorldPopulationAgeing2013.pdf."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mayes, D.G., Berghman, J., and Salais, R. (2001). Social Exclusion and European Policy, Edward Elgar.","DOI":"10.4337\/9781035363209"},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Popay, J., Escorel, S., Hern\u00e1ndez, M., Johnston, H., Mathieson, J., and Rispel, L. (2008). Understanding and Tackling Social Exclusion: Final Report to the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organization. Report of the Social Exclusion Knowledge Network."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"201","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jaging.2004.04.001","article-title":"The experience of quality of life among older people","volume":"19","author":"Borglin","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. Aging Stud."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"574","DOI":"10.1136\/jech.2004.025429","article-title":"Effect of social networks on 10 year survival in very old Australians: The Australian longitudinal study of aging","volume":"59","author":"Giles","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. Epidemiol. Community Health"},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Walker, A., and Hennessy, C.H. (2004). Quality of life in old age from the perspectives of older people. Growing Older: Quality of Life in Old Age, Open University Press."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"378","DOI":"10.1159\/000346818","article-title":"Social media use of older adults: A mini-review","volume":"59","author":"Leist","year":"2013","journal-title":"Gerontology"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"579","DOI":"10.1109\/JBHI.2012.2234129","article-title":"A survey on ambient-assisted living tools for older adults","volume":"17","author":"Rashidi","year":"2013","journal-title":"IEEE J. Biomed. Health Inform."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"165","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijhcs.2008.09.004","article-title":"The magic box and collage: Responding to the challenge of distributed intergenerational play","volume":"67","author":"Vetere","year":"2009","journal-title":"Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud."},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"R\u00f6cker, C., Ziefle, M., and Holzinger, A. (2011, January 18\u201320). Social inclusion in ambient assisted living environments: Home automation and convenience services for elderly users. Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Las Vegas, NV, USA."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wada, K., Ikeda, Y., Inoue, K., and Uehara, R. (2010, January 13\u201315). Development and preliminary evaluation of a caregiver\u2019s manual for robot therapy using the therapeutic seal robot Paro. Proceedings of the 19th International Symposium in Robot and Human Interactive Communication, Viareggio, Italy.","DOI":"10.1109\/ROMAN.2010.5598615"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"144","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neucom.2011.09.037","article-title":"A survey on fall detection: Principles and approaches","volume":"100","author":"Mubashir","year":"2013","journal-title":"Neurocomputing"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Qudah, I., Leijdekkers, P., and Gay, V. (2010, January 23\u201325). Using mobile phones to improve medication compliance and awareness for cardiac patients. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on PErvasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments, Samos, Greece.","DOI":"10.1145\/1839294.1839337"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Vuong, N.K., Chan, S., Lau, C.T., and Lau, K.M. (2011, January 16). Feasibility study of a real-time wandering detection algorithm for dementia patients. Proceedings of the First ACM MobiHoc Workshop on Pervasive Wireless Healthcare, Paris, France.","DOI":"10.1145\/2007036.2007050"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"253","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-8721.2009.01647.x","article-title":"Aging and information technology use: Potential and barriers","volume":"18","author":"Charness","year":"2009","journal-title":"Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"117","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-07485-6_12","article-title":"Mobile apps for older users\u2013The development of a mobile apps repository for older people","volume":"Volume 8524","author":"Zaphiris","year":"2014","journal-title":"Learning and Collaboration Technologies. Technology-Rich Environments for Learning and Collaboration"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"478","DOI":"10.1016\/j.pmcj.2008.09.010","article-title":"Mobile health monitoring for the elderly: Designing for diversity","volume":"5","author":"Lorenz","year":"2009","journal-title":"Pervasive Mob. Comput."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"57","DOI":"10.1016\/j.procs.2014.02.008","article-title":"Accessibility to mobile interfaces for older people","volume":"27","author":"Moreno","year":"2014","journal-title":"Proced. Comput. Sci."},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"van den Broek, G., Cavallo, F., and Wehrmann, C. (2010). AALIANCE Ambient Assisted Living Roadmap, IOS Press."},{"key":"ref_20","unstructured":"Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme, ICT for Ageing Well (2017, May 18). Catalogue of Projects. Available online: http:\/\/www.aal-europe.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/15\u20131805_AAL_Catalogue_2015_ONLINE.pdf."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Garcia, N.M., and Rodrigues, J.J. (2015). WeCare: Cooperating with older people in the design and evaluation of online social networking services. Ambient Assisted Living, CRC Press.","DOI":"10.1201\/b18520-34"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pensas, H., Liolis, K., Kouvatseas, G., Vainio, A.M., Wimmer, B., Kaila, L., Kivim\u00e4ki, T., Laitinen, S., and Vanhala, J. (2011, January 28\u201330). AMCOSOP: A social networking system for the elderly. Proceedings of the 15th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments, Tampere, Finland.","DOI":"10.1145\/2181037.2181099"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kivim\u00e4ki, T., K\u00f6lndorfer, P., Vainio, A.M., Pensas, H., Vuorela, T., Garschall, M., and Vanhala, J. (2013, January 29\u201331). User interface for social networking application for the elderly. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Pervasive Technologies Related to Assistive Environments, Rhodes, Greece.","DOI":"10.1145\/2504335.2504358"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lazakidou, A., Zimeras, S., Iliopoulou, D., and Koutsouris, D.D. (2016). A context-aware social networking platform built around the needs of elderly users: The Go-myLife experience. mHealth Ecosystems and Social Networks in Healthcare, Springer International Publishing.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-23341-3"},{"key":"ref_25","first-page":"3","article-title":"Social interaction screen. Making social networking services accessible for elderly people","volume":"11","author":"Burkhard","year":"2012","journal-title":"i-com Zeitschrift Interakt. Kooperat. Medien"},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Cantwell, D., Broin, D.O., Palmer, R., and Doyle, G. (2012, January 4\u20135). Motivating elderly people to exercise using a social collaborative exergame with adaptive difficulty. Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Games Based Learning, Cork, Ireland."},{"key":"ref_27","unstructured":"Pet\u00e4koski-Hult, T., Vainikainen, S., Kurki, M., Lehtinen, L., and Bosco, F. (2012, January 24\u201327). OWELA (Open WEb LAb) as a tool in the SOMEDALL project. Proceedings of the 4th AAL Forum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands."},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"Leal, A.S., and Bogi, A. (2017, May 18). Good Practices Handbook. Available online: http:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/docs\/projects\/cnect\/8\/297298\/080\/deliverables\/001-D37GoodPracticeHandbook.pdf."},{"key":"ref_29","unstructured":"(2017, May 18). Oscar Senior. Available online: http:\/\/www.oscarsenior.com\/."},{"key":"ref_30","unstructured":"(2017, May 18). Seniors Phone. Available online: http:\/\/www.seniorsphone.mobi\/."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"114","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-540-70540-6_15","article-title":"User modelling in ambient intelligence for elderly and disabled people","volume":"Volume 5105","author":"Miesenberger","year":"2008","journal-title":"Computers Helping People with Special Needs"},{"key":"ref_32","unstructured":"R\u00f6cker, C. (2013, January 18\u201320). User-centered design of intelligent environments: Requirements for designing successful ambient assisted living systems. Proceedings of the Central European Conference of Information and Intelligent Systems, Varazdin, Croatia."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"9","DOI":"10.1080\/19397030802166205","article-title":"User-centred design for sustainable behaviour","volume":"1","author":"Wever","year":"2008","journal-title":"Int. J. Sustain. Eng."},{"key":"ref_34","unstructured":"International Organization for Standardization (ISO) (2010). ISO 9241\u2013210:2010\u2014Ergonomics of Human-System Interaction\u2014Part 210: Human-Centred Design for Interactive Systems, ISO."},{"key":"ref_35","unstructured":"(2017, May 18). ELDER TABLET Project Website. Available online: http:\/\/daisy.cti.gr\/eltab\/."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1050","DOI":"10.1053\/apmr.2001.24893","article-title":"Gait variability and fall risk in community-living older adults: A 1-year prospective study","volume":"82","author":"Hausdorff","year":"2001","journal-title":"Arch. Phys. Med. Rehabil."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"116","DOI":"10.1097\/00005373-200101000-00021","article-title":"Geriatric falls: Injury severity is high and disproportionate to mechanism","volume":"50","author":"Sterling","year":"2001","journal-title":"J. Trauma"},{"key":"ref_38","unstructured":"(2017, May 18). Ambient Assisted Living and Well Being. Available online: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ambientassistedlivingwellbeing\/."},{"key":"ref_39","unstructured":"(2017, May 18). Senior Citizens Support Group. Available online: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thescsg\/."},{"key":"ref_40","unstructured":"(2017, May 18). Friends of the Elderly. Available online: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FriendsElderly\/."},{"key":"ref_41","unstructured":"Lee, Y.S. (2007). Older Adults\u2019 User Experiences with Mobile Phones: Identification of User Clusters and User Requirements. [Ph.D. Thesis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University]."},{"key":"ref_42","unstructured":"Shneiderman, B., Plaisant, C., Cohen, M.S., Jacobs, S.M., Elmqvist, N., and Diakopoulos, N. (2016). Designing the User Interface: Strategies for Effective Human-Computer Interaction, Pearson. [6th ed.]."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"507","DOI":"10.1016\/S0953-5438(99)00021-1","article-title":"Possible implications of aging for interface designers","volume":"12","author":"Hawthorn","year":"2000","journal-title":"Interact. Comput."},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"476","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-02806-9_55","article-title":"Exploring the interface design of mobile phone for the elderly","volume":"Volume 5619","author":"Kurosu","year":"2009","journal-title":"International Conference on Human Centered Design"},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"375","DOI":"10.1080\/0144929042000320009","article-title":"How older adults meet complexity: aging effects on the usability of different mobile phones","volume":"24","author":"Ziefle","year":"2005","journal-title":"Behav. Inf. Technol."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"253","DOI":"10.1007\/11555261_23","article-title":"The effect of age and font size on reading text on handheld computers","volume":"Volume 3585","author":"Costabile","year":"2005","journal-title":"Human-Computer Interaction\u2014Interact 2005"},{"key":"ref_47","unstructured":"(2017, May 18). W3C: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. Available online: http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/WCAG20\/."},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Rello, L., Pielot, M., and Marcos, M.C. (2016, January 7\u201312). Make it big! The effect of font size and line spacing on online readability. Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Santa Clara, CA, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/2858036.2858204"},{"key":"ref_49","unstructured":"(2017, May 18). Facebook App Development. Available online: https:\/\/developers.facebook.com\/docs\/apps."},{"key":"ref_50","unstructured":"Erl, T. (2005). Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design, Prentice Hall."},{"key":"ref_51","unstructured":"Costello, C. (2012). Elgg 1.8 Social Networking, Packt Publishing Ltd."},{"key":"ref_52","unstructured":"(2017, May 18). Elgg Social Network Engine. Available online: https:\/\/elgg.org\/."},{"key":"ref_53","unstructured":"(2017, May 18). Facebook Graph API. Available online: https:\/\/developers.facebook.com\/docs\/graph-api."},{"key":"ref_54","unstructured":"(2017, May 18). Google Maps API. Available online: https:\/\/developers.google.com\/maps\/."},{"key":"ref_55","unstructured":"(2017, May 18). YouTube Data API. Available online: https:\/\/developers.google.com\/youtube\/v3\/."},{"key":"ref_56","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"273","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1540-5915.2008.00192.x","article-title":"Technology acceptance model 3 and a research agenda on interventions","volume":"39","author":"Venkatesh","year":"2008","journal-title":"Decis. Sci."},{"key":"ref_57","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"982","DOI":"10.1287\/mnsc.35.8.982","article-title":"User acceptance of computer technology: A comparison of two theoretical models","volume":"35","author":"Davis","year":"1989","journal-title":"Manag. Sci."},{"key":"ref_58","unstructured":"Hair, J.F., Black, W.C., Babin, B.J., Anderson, R.E., and Tatham, R.L. (2010). Multivariate Data Analysis, Pearson\/Prentice Hall. [7th ed.]."},{"key":"ref_59","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"472","DOI":"10.1037\/0022-3514.39.3.472","article-title":"The revised UCLA Loneliness Scale: Concurrent and discriminant validity evidence","volume":"39","author":"Russell","year":"1980","journal-title":"J. Pers. Soc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_60","unstructured":"Pallant, J. (2013). SPSS Survival Manual, McGraw-Hill Education."},{"key":"ref_61","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e39","DOI":"10.2196\/jmir.2306","article-title":"Impact of internet use on loneliness and contact with others among older adults: Cross-sectional analysis","volume":"15","author":"Cotten","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Med. Internet Res."},{"key":"ref_62","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e122","DOI":"10.2196\/jmir.3943","article-title":"Older people going online: Its value and before-after evaluation of volunteer support","volume":"17","author":"Jones","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Med. Internet Res."}],"container-title":["Informatics"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2227-9709\/4\/3\/15\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T18:40:05Z","timestamp":1760208005000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2227-9709\/4\/3\/15"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2017,6,22]]},"references-count":62,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,9]]}},"alternative-id":["informatics4030015"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/informatics4030015","relation":{},"ISSN":["2227-9709"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2227-9709","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2017,6,22]]}}}