Gaining Necessary Digital Competencies to Women Over 65 Under Social Isolation

In the study, which was designed to identify the problems experienced by the elderly population, especially women, under social isolation during the COVID-19 epidemic, to minimize the problems through awareness and information, and to set a model for similar studies, the study was conducted to determine the digital competence levels of women over the age of 65 living in Muğla city center and to develop these competencies. intended. The phenomenon of aging and aging, which is one of the main agenda items of the whole world today, was carried out in the province of Muğla with a limited sample group in this study. According to the findings obtained in both the quantitative and educational application and the qualitative analysis part of the research, women aged 65 and over appear as the social group most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the study carried out to increase the digital competencies of women aged 65 and over, whose disadvantage has been reinforced by social isolation, women in this age group have an intense "security problem" when making any transactions over the internet, and as a result, they can reach people younger than themselves (children, grandchildren, friends, etc.). .) and their dependence on their spouses increased. According to the related variables; It has been revealed that digital competencies of women are stronger as the education level increases, the number of people living in the family decreases (compared to those living in a single women's extended family), the closer the age category is to 65, and the income status increases. Thanks to the training materials developed on the YouTube platform, an increase in the digital competencies of women has been detected. It is thought that short informational videos to be prepared for the elderly population via the internet will positively affect the digital competence of the population. The biggest addiction of the elderly population is that they still get help from their children/grandchildren/spouses, even though they have made progress with the effect of the educational materials developed within the scope of the research, due to the problem of trust they feel when using digital technologies. It will be beneficial in the long run for the young population to implement the functions of informing the elderly population instead of performing transactions directly on the internet. In this way, knowledge transfer between generations gains importance. At the same time, any elderly person completing the learning process with health will positively affect the education of their peers. This effect is also seen as beneficial for the general society to gain digital competencies.