Frail older people ageing in place alone in Italy: Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), perceived loneliness and social isolation

The dataset presents some data collected for the study "Inclusive ageing in place” (IN-AGE), funded by Fondazione Cariplo (Italy), Grant N. 2017-0941, and regarding a purposive sample of 120 individuals aged 65 years and over (males and females). It was a cross-sectional qualitative survey which in 2019 was conducted by face-to-face and semi-structured interviews with frail older people without cognitive impairment, living at home, alone or with a private personal care assistant (PCA), in three Italian Regions (Lombardy, Marche, and Calabria). Both urban sites and rural locations were included. The dataset puts in relations how seniors use ICTs, in particular smartphone and tablet/personal computer (PC), their levels of education and physical limitations, in addition to their objective social isolation and subjective perceived loneliness. The difficulties in carrying out the activities of daily life were detected by ADLs and IADLs scales. The use of ICTs was explored by asking which type of device seniors are able to use independently Perceived loneliness was explored by means of open questions (e.g., “Do you feel alone/abandoned?”). Social isolation was assessed with questions on type (e.g., by telephone) and frequency (e.g., daily) of contacts with family, friendship and neighborhood networks, for intimate confidences. A qualitative analysis was conducted following the Framework Analysis Technique (reading of the interviews, identification of categories, construction of thematic chart, and interpretation of results). A manual thematic content analysis was carried out. Qualitative dimensions were also quantifiied, in terms of count of statements, for providing an introductory picture of the explored dimensions. Moreover, further quantitative classifications were provided (by means of Microsoft Excel 2023). The level of physical limitations was assessed with four grades (mild, moderate, high, very high). The perceived loneliness was assessed as presence-absence of this feeling at four levels (absent/mild, moderate, high, very high). The social isolation was assessed as presence/absence of confidants and related daily contacts. Main results showed that smartphone and PC/tablet were used by older respondents mainly to talk with family members, and those more educated and without serious functional limitations are more willing and able to adopt ICTs. Findings also indicate that seniors who know how to use ICTs report mainly low/moderate loneliness, and less social isolation. These results can offer insights for policymakers on policies for mitigating possible loneliness and social isolation of frail seniors with the help of ICTs, also developing adequate e-training programs. The dataset is provided in open format (Microsoft Excel) and includes the following: a “numeric” dataset regarding the unlabelled dimensions used for statistics elaboration; a codebook with the complete variables list and variables labels we used.

本数据集源自由意大利卡里普洛基金会（Fondazione Cariplo）资助、项目编号为2017-0941的研究《包容性原地老龄化》（Inclusive ageing in place, IN-AGE），研究对象为120名65岁及以上的男女个体，采用目的性抽样方法选取。
本研究为横断面质性调查，于2019年在意大利伦巴第、马尔凯、卡拉布里亚三个大区开展，采用面对面半结构化访谈方式，访谈对象为无认知障碍、居家独居或雇佣私人护理助理（Personal Care Assistant, PCA）的体弱老年人，覆盖城市与乡村两类居住场景。
本数据集旨在分析老年群体对信息通信技术（Information and Communication Technologies, ICTs）的使用情况——尤其是智能手机和平板电脑/个人计算机（Personal Computer, PC）的使用，同时关联其受教育水平、身体功能受限程度，以及客观社会隔离与主观感知孤独感。日常生活活动能力（Activities of Daily Living, ADLs）量表与工具性日常生活活动能力（Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, IADLs）量表被用于检测老年人在日常活动中面临的困难。信息通信技术使用情况的调研通过询问老年人可独立使用的设备类型展开；感知孤独感通过开放式问题评估，例如“你是否感到孤独/被遗弃？”；社会隔离则通过询问与家人、朋友及邻里网络的联系类型（如电话联系）、频率（如每日联系）等问题，以评估其用于亲密倾诉的社交状况。
本研究采用框架分析法（Framework Analysis Technique）开展质性分析，具体流程包括访谈转录、类别识别、主题图谱构建与结果解读，并辅以人工主题内容分析。研究还通过统计陈述次数对质性维度进行量化，以呈现所调研维度的初步概况；此外，本数据集还通过微软Excel 2023（Microsoft Excel 2023）完成了进一步的量化分类。
身体功能受限程度分为四个等级：轻度、中度、重度、极重度。感知孤独感分为是否存在该感受，并进一步细分为四个水平：无/轻度、中度、重度、极重度。社会隔离则通过是否拥有倾诉对象及每日联系情况进行评估。
主要研究结果显示，受访老年人主要使用智能手机与个人计算机/平板电脑与家人沟通；受教育水平更高且无严重功能受限的老年人更愿意且更有能力使用信息通信技术。研究还发现，掌握信息通信技术使用技能的老年人多报告轻中度孤独感，且社会隔离程度更低。上述结果可为政策制定者提供参考，助力其借助信息通信技术制定缓解体弱老年人孤独感与社会隔离的相关政策，并开发适配的电子培训项目。
本数据集以开放格式（微软Excel 2023格式）提供，包含两部分内容：一是用于统计分析的未标记维度数值数据集；二是包含完整变量列表与变量标签的编码手册。