Abhinav Choudhry's Preliminary Exam
PhD candidate Abhinav Choudhry will present his dissertation proposal, "Helping Older Adults’ Everyday Lives Through Technology: Applications in Health and Finance." Choudhry's preliminary examination committee includes Associate Professor Rachel Adler (chair), Professor Ted Underwood, Associate Professor Sean Mullen, Department of Health and Kinesiology, and Assistant Professor Filipe Correia, Department of Finance, University of Georgia.
Abstract
Populations are ageing, especially in developed countries. Older adults face more cognitive and physical difficulties as they age, as well as chronic conditions. Two prominent areas that significantly affect the well-being of ageing adults are health and finance. Physical activity in the form of both cardiovascular activity and muscle strengthening has benefits for both the mind and body but only 13.9% of adults over 65 in the US meet physical activity guidelines. At the same time, adults face greater financial pressures as well during this phase of life some of which are also affected by their health status. Older adults face financial vulnerability both in terms of meeting financial obligations on limited funds post-retirement, as well as a greater risk of financial exploitation: older adults lose much more money in scams than younger people. Furthermore, they also have lower online financial inclusion as evidenced from their have lower usage of financial services online. In the US, only 70% of people in their 60s, 64% in their 70s, and 50% of those over 80 use the internet for financial services. These issues in health and finance have therefore inspired the research in this dissertation proposal. My proposed research involves the investigation and use of novel technological approaches in both physical health and finance. Based on in-depth interviews with older adults, this research utilises simulation, gamification, and the use of Large Language Models to investigate the potential of technological interventions aimed at improving physical activity, digital financial literacy, and financial decision-making for older adults. The research will explore, in the context of older adults, the feasibility of 1) a gamified financial simulation to improve digital financial self-efficacy and digital resilience of older adults, 2) a gamified personalised conversational agent with a specialised health knowledge base that integrates with real-time wearable data to improve physical activity levels, and 3) generative AI to aid the process of everyday financial decision-making.
Question? Contact Rachel Adler.