Mobile health technology adoption across generations: Narrowing the digital divide

TLDR

Mobile health technologies promise benefits for individuals, organizations, and health professionals, yet older adults’ resistance creates an age‑based digital divide that limits their transformative potential. The study investigates factors driving older adults’ resistance to m‑health and proposes inclusive design and education strategies to enhance self‑efficacy, privacy literacy, and trust. The authors employ protection motivation theory and social cognitive theory to examine older adults’ resistance to m‑health. Mixed‑methods analysis reveals that older adults’ perceived inability, mistrust, high risk perception, and privacy concerns deepen the m‑health digital divide, leaving many with access but excluded from use.

Abstract

Abstract Mobile health (m‐health) technologies offer many benefits to individuals, organizations, and health professionals alike. Indeed, the utilization of m‐health by older adults can foster the development of proactive patients, while also reducing financial burden and resource pressures on health systems. However, the potentially transformative influence of m‐health is limited, as many older adults resist adoption leading to the emergence of an age‐based digital divide. This study leverages protection motivation theory and social cognitive theory to explore the factors driving resistance among older adults. This mixed methods study integrates survey findings with insights from qualitative interviews to highlight that the m‐health digital divide is deepening due to older adults' perceived inability to adopt and their unwillingness to adopt stemming from mistrust, high risk perceptions, and strong desire for privacy. The paper contributes to the privacy and social inclusion literature by demonstrating that while many older adults have access to m‐health, they are currently excluded and require careful consideration by technology organizations and researchers. The study provides recommendations for narrowing the m‐health digital divide through inclusive design and educational efforts to improve self‐efficacy, develop privacy literacy, and build trust, thereby ensuring that older citizens are both capable and willing to adopt.