Table 2.
Baseline characteristics of participants in the ICT-communication group, ICT-entertainment group, and usual care groups.
| Characteristics | Total (N=54) | ICTa-communication group (n=19) | ICT-entertainment group (n=18) | Usual care group (n=17) | P value | ||
| Sociodemography | |||||||
| Age (years), mean (SD) | 73.0 (11.4) | 72.9 (12.3) | 72.9 (10.6) | 73.2 (11.8) | >.99 | ||
| Sex (male), n (%) | 27 (50) | 11 (58) | 9 (50) | 7 (41) | .61 | ||
| Education, n (%) | .05 | ||||||
| Illiterate (yes) | 15 (28) | 6 (32) | 3 (17) | 6 (35) | |||
| Elementary school | 23 (43) | 5 (26) | 10 (56) | 8 (47) | |||
| High school and above | 16 (30) | 8 (42) | 5 (28) | 3 (18) | |||
| Financial status, n (%) | .85 | ||||||
| Poor | 24 (44) | 9 (47) | 8 (44) | 7 (41) | |||
| Average | 29 (54) | 10 (53) | 10 (56) | 9 (53) | |||
| Rich | 1 (2) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (6) | |||
| Computer learning experience, n (%) | .39 | ||||||
| No | 47 (87) | 15 (79) | 16 (90) | 16 (94) | |||
| Yes | 7 (13) | 4 (21) | 2 (11) | 1 (6) | |||
| Health status, mean (SD) | |||||||
| LORb (months) | 36.2 (37.4) | 28.5 (16.9) | 50.3 (51.6) | 29.3 (33.9) | .39 | ||
| ADLc (0-100) | 40.2 (31.5) | 31.8 (31.2) | 39.2 (29.6) | 51.6 (32.5) | .12 | ||
| IADLd (0-24) | 6.6 (2.0) | 5.8 (2.1) | 7.2 (1.9) | 6.7 (1.9) | .05 | ||
| SPMSQe (0-10) | 9.6 (0.8) | 9.5 (0.8) | 9.4 (0.9) | 9.7 (0.6) | .56 | ||
| Diseasef (count) | 2.3 (1.1) | 2.2 (1.0) | 2.5 (1.3) | 2.2 (1.1) | .61 | ||
| HRQoLg–physical component, mean (SD) | 26.5 (19.2) | 27.7 (18.5) | 25.8 (17.1) | 25.9 (23.0) | .83 | ||
| HRQoL–mental component, mean (SD) | 33.8 (20.7) | 33.9 (18.1) | 31.6 (16.5) | 36.0 (27.3) | .97 | ||
| Social support–family/friends, mean (SD) | 1.4 (0.3) | 1.3 (0.2) | 1.3 (0.3) | 1.5 (0.3) | .10 | ||
| Social support–health care workers, mean (SD) | 1.6 (0.2) | 1.5 (0.2) | 1.7 (0.2) | 1.6 (0.2) | .06 | ||
| Satisfaction with social support, mean (SD) | 2.3 (0.3) | 2.2 (0.3) | 2.3 (0.3) | 2.3 (0.2) | .09 | ||
| Happiness, mean (SD) | 3.6 (4.0) | 3.2 (3.2) | 4.2 (4.4) | 3.5 (3.9) | .88 | ||
| Depressive symptom scale, mean (SD) | 12.7 (4.4) | 13.7 (4.6) | 13.1 (4.6) | 11.1 (4.1) | .15 | ||
aICT: information and communications technology.
bLOR: length of residency.
cADL: activities of daily living.
dIADL: instrumental activities of daily living.
eSPMSQ: Short Portable Mental Status Questionnaire.
fDisease count includes diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cerebral vascular incidents, and others.
gHRQoL: health-related quality of life.