Caregivers' Role in Cybersecurity for Aging Information Technology Users with Intellectual Disabilities

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Disability Studies
• Information Science

Background:

• Information technology (IT) use presents unique privacy risks for aging individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID).
• Caregiver support is crucial for mitigating online privacy violations in this vulnerable population.
• Aging IT users with ID face compounded challenges compared to younger users.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore strategies employed by caregivers to protect the online privacy of aging IT users with ID.
• To identify barriers encountered by caregivers in safeguarding the digital privacy of this demographic.
• To understand caregivers' perspectives on online privacy and information security.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative exploratory study utilizing six focus groups.
• Involved six caregivers (four paid, two family members) of aging IT users with ID.
• Inductive thematic analysis of focus group discussions on IT use, privacy strategies, and barriers.

Main Results:

• Caregivers employed three primary strategies: restricting access to personal information, limiting disclosure of personal details, and providing just-in-time instruction.
• Four significant barriers were identified: limited caregiver knowledge of information security, balancing privacy with user autonomy, maintaining professional boundaries, and residential care policies.
• Caregivers' own attitudes towards online privacy and security were also explored.

Conclusions:

• Inclusive, transdisciplinary research is essential to address the heightened privacy and security risks for aging IT users with ID.
• Caregiver training is needed to enhance support for safe IT use among this population.
• Technology developers should focus on solutions reducing caregiver dependency for privacy protection.