|
?:abstract
|
-
BACKGROUND: The burden of population ageing and the associated chronic conditions is observed worldwide Seniors in general, and those elderly with high needs in particular (i e multiple chronic conditions / functional challenges), suffer from social isolation, and have high rates of emergency visits and general dissatisfaction with the quality of care they receive Mobile health (mHealth) technologies present an opportunity to address the challenges associated with population aging and enable support for seniors in the community To date, limited information is available on Canadian seniors\' attitudes toward and use of mHealth technologies for self-tracking purposes, an area that reveals to be increasingly important during and following the COVID-19 era OBJECTIVE: This study presents major contributions to an under-researched area on seniors and mHealth technologies use It aims to compare seniors\' use of mHealth technologies to the general adult population in Canada, and investigates the factors that affect their use METHODS: A cross-sectional survey on mHealth and digital self-tracking was conducted The questionnaire was administered online to a national sample of 4,109 Canadian residents, who spoke English or French The survey instrument consisted of three sections assessing: 1) demographic characteristics, health status, and comorbidities;2) familiarity with and use of mHealth technologies (i e mApps, consumer smart devices/wearables like vital signs monitors, bathroom scales, fitness trackers, in-telligent clothing, etc );and 3) factors influencing the continued use of mHealth technologies RESULTS: Significant differences were observed between the seniors and the adult population on smart technologies and Internet use (P< 001);yet a considerable number of seniors in the community reported using smart phones (47%) and digital tablets (50%) and being familiar with smart devic-es/wearables Only 20% of seniors reported downloading mobile applications (mApps) and 12% indicated using smart devices/wearables The majority of mApps downloaded by seniors were health-related;interestingly, their use was sustained over a longer period of time (P= 007) com-pared to the general population 63% of seniors reported tracking their health measures, but the majority did so manually Seniors with one or more chronic conditions were mostly non-trackers (OR=0 439 and 0 431 for traditional trackers and digital trackers, respectively) No significant differences were observed with regard to satisfaction with mHealth technologies and intention to continue using them CONCLUSIONS: Leveraging mHealth technologies in partnership with health care providers and sharing of health/wellbeing data with health professionals and family members remain very limited A cul-ture shift in the provision of care to seniors is deemed necessary to keep up with the development of mHealth technologies and the changing demographics and expectations of patients and their caregivers Clinicaltrial:
|
![[This page as RDF]](https://research.tib.eu/covid-19/static/rdf-icon.gif){kind=icon}