The goal of this research is to study the acceptability of notifications delivered to older adults by technology-based assisted living services. Because computing systems are now ubiquitous, interruption management has become an important issue. It has been previously shown that the acceptability of interrupting notifications delivered by technology-based assistive services is influenced by their level of urgency and intrusiveness. However, these studies have mostly been focusing on younger adults and fall short of showing the role played by the nature of the interrupted user’s activity. This article presents an experimental study that involved older old adults (M = 82) placed in different fictional situations of interruption by a notification during an activity of daily living (ADL). The level of both urgency and intrusiveness influences the acceptability of notifications. More interestingly, both the nature of the ADLs (basic/instrumental) and the main resources engaged in the activity (cognitive/physical) influence the acceptability of notifications. Notifications are less accepted if the interrupted ADL is an instrumental one that mainly engages cognitive resources. These findings strongly suggest that assistive services should be context-aware, at least for this population. Before delivering a notification, the assistive system should be aware of the type of activity the user is performing and decide whether the time to notify the user is appropriate or whether the notification should be postponed.

中文翻译：

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基于技术的辅助生活服务向老年人发送的通知的可接受性

这项研究的目的是研究通过基于技术的辅助生活服务向老年人发送通知的可接受性。由于计算系统现在无处不在，因此中断管理已成为一个重要问题。以前已经表明，基于技术的辅助服务所传递的中断通知的可接受性受其紧急程度和介入程度的影响。然而，这些研究主要集中在年轻人上，并且没有显示出被打扰的用户活动的性质所起的作用。本文介绍的实验研究，涉及旧的老的成年人（中号 = 82）在日常生活活动（ADL）期间通过通知置于不同的虚构情境中。紧急程度和干扰程度都会影响通知的可接受性。更有趣的是，ADL的性质（基本/工具）和从事该活动的主要资源（认知/身体的）都会影响通知的可接受性。如果中断的ADL是主要利用认知资源的工具性ADL，则通知被接受的程度会降低。这些发现强烈表明，至少对于这个人群，辅助服务应具有上下文意识。在传递通知之前，辅助系统应了解用户正在执行的活动的类型，并决定通知用户的时间是否合适或是否应推迟通知。