The paper is structured as follows.。 The following section explains the methodology used to outline the status of mobile applications in an aging society.。 The third section presents the results.。 These results enable us to deduce the conclusions and to define the recommendations and the trends presented in section four.。 Finally, section five presents the final conclusions.。
2.。 Methodology
This section is aimed to define the methodology of the article.。 The study of the role that mobile applications can play in an aging society requires the identification of the needs and the require ments of this new social situation.。 The first stage of the study is to analyze the aspects with implications for the concept of “the quality of life”.。 In Section 3.。1, this concept is briefly analyzed and dissected into key components.。
The second stage is aimed to analyze how mobile applications can improve the quality of life of older people and to examine the acceptance of mobile phones by older people: use, needs, preferences and barriers in relation to mobile applications.。 Section 3.。2 deals with this topic.。 Within this framework, the current status of mobile devices and applications for older people is examined.。 Research papers (from scientific and technical journals and proceedings of conferences) and Internet sources (web sites of mobile phone providers, web sites of research projects, etc.。) are the main source of information.。 Section 3.。3 analyzes the current status of mobile devices and applications for older people.。 The third stage is aimed to analyze whether the current mobile applications can satisfy the requirements of older people in order to improve their quality of life or not.。 The discussion section develops this stage and also explores the future trends.。
The fourth stage is aimed to extract conclusions from the results.。 This stage study strengths and areas where the research is well developed, to discover trends and future lines of work and to identify holes and weaknesses in the current literature.。 This stage is mainly developed in the discussion and conclusions sections.。 These sections help researchers and developers to consider the status and trends of mobile applications as an important tool in an aging society.。
3.。3.。 Results
3.。1.。 Quality of life in old age
Quality of life research has emerged as a concept with intense scientific and political interest in the last few decades.。 According to the historic introduction developed by Smith, early notions of quality of life can be dated to Aristotle’s (384–322 B.。C.。) written concepts of ‘the good life’ and ‘living well’.。 However, the popularization of the term ‘quality of life’ (QoL) evolved in the second half of the twentieth century.。 Over the last fifty years, a plethora of definitions of quality of life have emerged within the health and social science disciplines.。 However, as yet, there exists no generic definition satisfying all proponents of quality of life research (Smith,2000).。 There is no consensus on a definition of quality of life in older age, whether among the younger, more fit elderly population or among the frailer elderly population (Brown et al.。, 2004).。 As a consequence, there is no consensus on how to measure quality of life (Bowling and Stennen, 2010; Xavier et al.。, 2003).。 Despite this variety, Melander stresses that there is an emerging consensus that physical, mental and social aspects should be included in QoL, and there is now also recognition that spiritual aspects should be included as well (Melander, 2008).。 Brown et al.。 (2004) provide a taxonomy, overview and systematic review of the literature.。 Through this review, they determine the components of quality of life that older people themselves have deemed to be important and compare them with the components identified in the literature.。 The literature reveals that quality of life can theoretically encompass a wide ranging array of domains, including the inpidual’s physical health and functioning, psycho-social well-being, psychological outlook, psychological and social role functioning, social support and resources, independence, autonomy and perceived control over life, material and financial circumstances, community social capital and the external environment, including the political fabric of society (Brown et al.。, 2004).。Table 1 shows the components that older people have identified as being important.。