Digital Self-Assessment of Physical Performance to Promote Independence in Older Adults: Development, Usability, and...

Assessment of physical performance in older adults is critical for injury prevention and rehabilitation. Such an assessment remains indispensable for authentic health management, facilitating proper tracking of health condition progression and implementation of tailored interventions. This study aimed to develop and evaluate a digital health tool that empowers older adults to independently assess comprehensive physical performance, including balance, mobility, lower-limb strength, and cardiorespiratory endurance.

This was a cross-sectional study employing a user-centered design approach conducted at Samsung Medical Center. Thirty community-dwelling older adults aged ≥ 65 years were included.

A self-administered mobile application with a wearable sensor guided older adults to evaluate and understand their functional performance components. Usability was evaluated using a System Usability Scale (SUS), user experience questionnaires, and open-ended feedback. Preliminary validity was assessed by comparing professional assessments with self-assessments of physical performance.

The tool achieved acceptable usability (mean SUS 69.0 ± 14.84), with most participants (> 95%) perceiving the tool to be necessary and useful for health management, and 86.2% confirming home feasibility. Participants valued their understanding of functional capacity, increased motivation for health management, and enhanced willingness to engage in physical activity. Self-assessments of cardiorespiratory endurance and balance showed moderate concordance with professional measurements (r = 0.5-0.6) with no significant mean differences.

The tool provides self-directed, comprehensive assessments and delivers intuitive comparative data against age- and sex-matched norms, thereby enabling autonomous health management. Despite variable user experience, the tool demonstrated acceptable usability, with most participants recognizing its utility and perceiving the potential for home use. Further refinements in usability, accuracy, and technical simplification are needed. With these improvements, the tool could harness these assessment results to deliver tailored exercise programs and evolve into a comprehensive prevention and rehabilitation resource for older adults.