Grotto Giulia, Buja Alessandra
Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
Department of Cardiological, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, and Public Health, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
Digit Health. 2025 Jul 10;11:20552076251336973. doi: 10.1177/20552076251336973. eCollection 2025 Jan-Dec.
Social capital refers to the valuable resources that individuals can access through their social networks, which are often established within family ties, professional affiliations, community organizations, and neighborhoods. Evidence suggests that there is a positive association between social capital and well-being, health status, and sociability. Research has found a positive association between digital technology use and social capital, though limited attention has been paid to older adults. This systematic review aims to evaluate the association between digital technology use and social capital among older adults.
Five scientific electronic databases were searched for eligible studies in October 2024. The search strategies were developed by combining the keywords of the three main axes of the research ("older adults," "digital technology," and "social capital") and respective synonyms using Boolean operators. The review protocol was developed in advance and registered in PROSPERO (CRD42024614622).
The research strategy returned a total of 1229 citations from electronic databases, 20 of which met the exclusion and inclusion criteria. All the included studies had a cross-sectional design, and the samples of the included studies ranged from 118 to 9642 individuals. All the included studies found a positive association between digital technology and social capital among older adults.
Digital technology can offer opportunities to maintain or increase social capital, that typically tends to reduce with age. Since social capital positively impacts health and well-being, the importance of enabling older adults to use digital technologies must be considered when designing and implementing health behavior intervention programs.
社会资本指个人能够通过其社交网络获取的宝贵资源，这些社交网络通常建立在家庭关系、职业联系、社区组织和邻里关系之中。有证据表明，社会资本与幸福感、健康状况和社交能力之间存在正相关。研究发现数字技术的使用与社会资本之间存在正相关，不过对老年人的关注有限。本系统综述旨在评估老年人数字技术使用与社会资本之间的关联。
2024年10月，在五个科学电子数据库中检索符合条件的研究。通过使用布尔运算符组合研究三个主要轴（“老年人”、“数字技术”和“社会资本”）的关键词及其各自的同义词来制定检索策略。综述方案提前制定并在国际前瞻性注册系统（PROSPERO，注册号：CRD42024614622）中注册。
该研究策略从电子数据库中总共检索到1229条引文，其中20条符合排除和纳入标准。所有纳入研究均采用横断面设计，纳入研究的样本量从118人到9642人不等。所有纳入研究均发现老年人数字技术使用与社会资本之间存在正相关。
数字技术可以提供维持或增加社会资本的机会，而社会资本通常会随着年龄增长而减少。由于社会资本对健康和幸福感有积极影响，因此在设计和实施健康行为干预项目时，必须考虑让老年人使用数字技术的重要性。
