現代公民社會仰賴所有具有媒體素養的公民，積極參與公共事務，這有時亦被稱為「媒體近用權」。但在過去針對大眾媒體的研究中，獨獨漠視老人的媒體近用。即便網際網路的出現，讓過去無法掌握媒體發言權的弱勢族群也有發聲的機會，但網際網路中的部落格、入口網站與社群媒體等，提供資訊與分享表達意見的方式也似乎都是迎合年輕人的需要，未考慮到老人的使用便利性。 另一方面，有鑑於近年來老人罹患失智症的病例有增無減，失智症研究受到國內外的高度重視。包括美國歐巴馬政府與整個神經科學界都致力於找出預防或減緩失智症惡化的辦法。因考慮到研究的可行性，本研究不擬探討失智症老人的媒體近用狀況，但希望以那些自覺有認知缺損狀況（主觀認知缺損，subjective cognitive impairment, SCI）的老人為研究對象，調查這些老人是否或多常透過各類媒體近用履行公民參與，同時這些媒體近用行為是否有助於預防或改善記憶喪失狀況，達成預防失智症的效果。本研究希望透過對花蓮慈濟醫院志工的媒體近用與公民參與做初探性調查，最後能對老人傳播乃至失智症相關研究做出貢獻。 Civil society requires that all citizens with media literacy actively engage in public affairs, namely the right of access to media. The rise of internet has greatly improved the accessibility of the disadvantageous to speak to the public; and all these blogs, portal websites and social network media appear to meet the needs of younger generations. The elderly people, however, seem to be often neglected in current mass media studies. Meanwhile, the number of patients with dementia has increased rapidly over the past few decades due to population aging, and the estimated global burden has even caught the attention of the Obama Administration. The entire neuroscience community is currently focusing on early diagnosis, early prevention or delaying the onset of dementia. The study aims to investigate the access to media while practicing civic engagement in a group of senior volunteers with subjective cognitive impairment at Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital. We will also study how these participants adapt their memory impairment to respond to different means of access to media in the hope that the pattern of access to media among elderly people will offer clues for dementia care and prevention.
