Mobile device (e.g., smartphone) proficiency is becoming increasingly necessary to perform important everyday tasks, and inadequate proficiency can prevent groups of individuals such as older adults from obtaining the benefits of mobile computing and smartphone utilization. To facilitate mobile device training and research on barriers to mobile device use and adoption by older adults, Roque and Boot [1] developed the Mobile Device Proficiency Questionnaire (MDPQ). The current study is the first to assess the validity of the MDPQ based on confirmatory factor analysis and objective measures of their smartphone skills. In addition, it represents the first attempt to validate the MDPQ on a sample of older smartphone users. Results suggest that modifications may be necessary for the MDPQ to serve as a valid and reliable measure of proficiency among older adult smartphone users. In this sense, four important implications and recommendations for application of the MDPQ are discussed that could promote the general goal of ensuring that individuals of all ages can benefit from the use of smartphone devices and services such as mobile apps.

Introduction

Digital skills are becoming increasingly necessary to perform important everyday tasks. Tellingly, in various models of digital divide, scholars have proposed them as one of dimensions of digital inequalities that are vital for attaining beneficial personal and social outcomes [2], [3]. With the expanding prominence of mobile computing a distinct set of abilities referred to as mobile device proficiency has emerged that allow individuals to effectively cope with ubiquitous services such as mobile apps [4]. A lack of mobile device proficiency can prevent individuals from benefiting from the many advantages offered by mobile computing related to communication, navigation, transportation, entertainment, and health [5]. For example, mobile apps allow individuals to communicate with distant friends and family, find their way in unfamiliar cities, pay for street parking, manage chronic conditions, and track their physical activity. Moreover, for a growing number of individuals a smartphone is the only means to access the Internet. While 13% of Americans were smartphone-only users in 2015, this percentage increased to 17% in 2019 [6]. Under the circumstances of smartphone dependence lowproficient individuals will face challenges obtaining these and a myriad of other benefits offered by smart devices and become digitally excluded [5], [7], [8].