I am a UX Designer based in Dublin. My path to UX has been unconventional, as my undergraduate degree was in English Literature and History. This has informed my practice in a variety of ways, as I have a real passion for the storytelling and research aspects of the UX process. My major research project investigated the impact of persuasive design on reducing older adults' susceptibility to misinformation.
The spread of misinformation online is of increasing concern worldwide. Although older adults are understood to be particularly susceptible to misinformation, there is little empirical research on this population within the literature. To address this, a user-centred study was conducted to design an intervention suited to older adults. Educative nudges seek to enhance cognitive deliberation and considered judgement, and are therefore understood to improve critical thinking. A between-subjects experiment evaluated the effects of educative nudges on reducing older adults’ susceptibility to misinformation online. It was found that older adults exposed to the educative nudges were significantly more capable of detecting fake news than those exposed to the control. As older adults are an understudied population in the literature, identifying interventions that may reduce their susceptibility to misinformation provides key insights to research on misinformation susceptibility.