• J. Korean Med. Sci. · Jan 2024

    Digital Health Technology Use Among Older Adults: Exploring the Impact of Frailty on Utilization, Purpose, and Satisfaction in Korea.

    • Hyejin Lee, Jung-Yeon Choi, Sun-Wook Kim, Kwang-Pil Ko, Yang Sun Park, Kwang Joon Kim, Jaeyong Shin, Chang Oh Kim, Myung Jin Ko, Seong-Ji Kang, and Kwang-Il Kim.
    • Department of Family Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, Korea.
    • J. Korean Med. Sci. 2024 Jan 8; 39 (1): e7e7.

    BackgroundThe importance of digital technology is increasing among older adults. In this study, the digital health technology utilization status, purpose, and satisfaction of older adults were investigated according to frailty.MethodsA face-to-face survey was conducted among adults aged 65 years or older. Frailty was defined using the Korean version of the fatigue, resistance, ambulation, illnesses, and loss of weight scale.ResultsA total of 505 participants completed the survey, with 153 (30.3%) identified as pre-frail or frail and 352 (69.7%) as healthy. All respondents used smartphones; 440 (87.1%) were application users, and 290 (57.4%) were healthcare application users. Wearable devices were used by only 36 patients (7.1%). Pre-frail or frail respondents used social media more frequently than healthy respondents (19.4% vs. 7.4%, P < 0.001). Among the respondents, 319 (63.2%) were not able to install or delete the application themselves, and 277 (54.9%) stated that the application was recommended by their children (or partner). Pre-frail and frail respondents used more healthcare applications to obtain health information (P = 0.002) and were less satisfied with wearable devices (P = 0.02).ConclusionThe usage rate of digital devices, including mobile phones among older adults in Korea is high, whereas that of wearable devices is low. There was a notable difference in the services used by pre-frail and frail respondents compared to healthy respondents. Therefore, when developing digital devices for pre-frail and frail older adults, it is crucial to incorporate customized services that meet their unique needs, particularly those services that they frequently use.© 2024 The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences.

      Pubmed     Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

What will the 'Medical Journal of You' look like?

Start your free 21 day trial now.

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.