Kim BoRin, Jeong Chung Hyeon, Blood Emily, Arthanat Sajay, Corvini Marguerite, Golomski Casey, Wilcox John
Department of Social Work, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States.
Department of Occupational Therapy, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States.
Front Public Health. 2025 Apr 28;13:1531173. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1531173. eCollection 2025.
While eHealth became prevalent in healthcare during the pandemic, eHealth adoption by older adults has been slow. This digital divide could lead to worsening health and healthcare disparities. Guided by the push-pull-mooring perspective, this study explored factors influencing eHealth adoption among older adults.
Semi-structured virtual interviews were conducted in 2021 with 31 older adults with healthcare needs. Interviews were thematically coded and analyzed using constant comparative methods.
We found the pandemic to be a powerful push factor that forced older adults to adopt eHealth along with several pull factors that attracted older adults to use eHealth. A number of mooring factors that made older adults hesitant to adopt eHealth were identified: limited knowledge or skills on eHealth, security concerns, limited technology access, and peer influence.
Our findings indicate areas to increase productive use of eHealth within older populations, such as education or support within social networks.
虽然在疫情期间电子健康在医疗保健领域变得普遍，但老年人采用电子健康的速度一直很慢。这种数字鸿沟可能导致健康状况恶化和医疗保健差距加大。本研究以推拉系泊视角为指导，探讨了影响老年人采用电子健康的因素。
2021年对31名有医疗保健需求的老年人进行了半结构化虚拟访谈。访谈采用主题编码，并使用持续比较法进行分析。
我们发现疫情是促使老年人采用电子健康的强大推动因素，同时还有几个吸引老年人使用电子健康的拉动因素。还确定了一些使老年人对采用电子健康犹豫不决的系泊因素：对电子健康的知识或技能有限、安全担忧、技术获取有限以及同伴影响。
我们的研究结果指出了在老年人群体中提高电子健康有效使用率的领域，例如社交网络内的教育或支持。
