Jeong Chung Hyeon, Kim BoRin, Bessette Maria
Department of Social Work, College of Health and Human Services, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA.
Qual Health Res. 2025 Mar 28:10497323251316194. doi: 10.1177/10497323251316194.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of patient portals, which enhance patient-provider communication, streamline medical records management, and provide tailored educational materials. However, older patients face challenges in adopting these technologies, potentially exacerbating health and healthcare disparities. Guided by the Senior Technology Acceptance and Adoption Model (STAM), this study explores older adults' experiences with patient portals during the pandemic to gain an in-depth understanding of the factors influencing their adoption. We conducted semi-structured virtual interviews in 2021 with 31 older adults aged 60 or older with healthcare needs. The interviews were thematically coded and analyzed using the constant comparative method in grounded theory. The three phases of technology acceptance in STAM-objectification, incorporation, and conversion-served as sensitizing concepts in our analysis. The findings showed that some older patients felt compelled to use patient portals during the pandemic, bypassing the objectification phase, which is crucial for building an intention to use new technology. Older patients who lack a strong intention to use patient portals tended to report challenges in the incorporation phase, focusing more on the difficulties rather than the usefulness. These themes highlight obstacles to the adoption of patient portals during the conversion phase. Various suggestions for patient portal training and educational programs tailored to the needs of older adults were proposed to facilitate their adoption of patient portals. The study suggests areas for improvement to increase patient portal adoption among older patients, offering valuable insights for healthcare providers and policymakers to enhance equitable access to digital healthcare services.
新冠疫情加速了患者门户网站的采用，这些门户网站增强了患者与医疗服务提供者之间的沟通，简化了医疗记录管理，并提供了量身定制的教育材料。然而，老年患者在采用这些技术方面面临挑战，这可能会加剧健康和医疗差距。本研究以老年技术接受与采用模型（STAM）为指导，探讨了老年人在疫情期间使用患者门户网站的经历，以深入了解影响他们采用的因素。我们在2021年对31名60岁及以上有医疗需求的老年人进行了半结构化虚拟访谈。访谈采用扎根理论中的持续比较法进行主题编码和分析。STAM中技术接受的三个阶段——客观化、融入和转化——在我们的分析中作为敏感概念。研究结果表明，一些老年患者在疫情期间感到不得不使用患者门户网站，跳过了对使用新技术意图的形成至关重要的客观化阶段。缺乏强烈使用患者门户网站意图的老年患者往往在融入阶段报告遇到挑战，更多地关注困难而非有用性。这些主题突出了在转化阶段采用患者门户网站的障碍。针对老年人的需求提出了各种患者门户网站培训和教育计划的建议，以促进他们采用患者门户网站。该研究提出了改进领域，以提高老年患者对患者门户网站的采用率，为医疗服务提供者和政策制定者提供了宝贵的见解，以加强对数字医疗服务的公平获取。
