Taiwan Design Center

Studies have found that older adults often experience severe problems due to a lack of exercise, including an increased risk of falls, increased psychological problems and reduced social participation. However, the practicality and sustainability of exercise or physical fitness activities among older adults are questionable because these adults may face physical and psychological obstacles. Hence, this study proposed a research model to explore the physical fitness behaviours of the elderly subjects and the specific factors for maintaining their motivation to participate in exercise or physical fitness activities. A survey for a total of 101 subjects of residents of Chang Gung Health and Culture Village (CGHCV) was conducted to investigate the effects of the elderly’s group identification and psychological proximity on their attitude and intention toward physical fitness. The results show that the group identification of the physical fitness activities, psychological proximity, intention toward physical fitness and subjective norms of the subjects did not affect their attitudes towards physical fitness or their intention to participate in exercise or physical fitness activities in the future. Therefore, the influence of group identification with other older adults of the same age on empathy allowed the subjects to understand the problematic aspects of physical fitness. Group identification among the subjects allowed them to adjust to their physical fitness problems through sympathy. It mediated the physical fitness problems of the subjects through the ageism effect.

The proportion of the elderly in Taiwan’s population has been increasing in recent years. In the context of ageing and a low birth rate, retirement care for the elderly has become a serious challenge but remains underresearched. Choosing a retirement community that meets the needs of the elderly by considering their health and leisure activities and providing housing has become an important ageing-related topic. Therefore, this study aims to investigate whether the living intention of the elderly when choosing a retirement community is affected by brand attachment, high partner quality, brand trust and commitment, and brand self-congruence. A living intention service model is proposed and an empirical study is conducted with 101 random residents of Chang Gung Health and Culture Village (CGHCV) to measure the constructs proposed in the model. The results show that self-congruence and partner quality did not have a significant impact on the elderly’s brand trust and commitment, likely because when choosing their last residence, unlike when buying general consumer products, the elderly attach more importance to healthcare brands, which in turn affects their living intention.

Cross-cultural Communication is a relatively new terminology that has emerged over the last decade. The use of information technology in design is becoming more common and accessible to users. Designers apply a variety of multimedia, symbols and metaphors to independently create and design products that express their ideas and communicate their life experience. The products per se are the media which provide powerful and essential means of communication. If design is viewed as a process of communication, it follows naturally that how the designer’s performances are conceived, developed, delivered and received, and how the user is attracted, accurately understanding the products, and affected by the design are worth exploring. By blending Science, Arts and Design (SAD), we can produce a higher impact on cross-cultural communication to reach Collaboration, Humanity, Empathy, Ecology and Renaissance (CHEER). Therefore, this study intends to probe how the relationship between the designer and the user is potentially altered in cross-cultural communication. The results suggest that the communication matrix approach would be validated through more testing and evaluating of designs in further studies.