With their significant empowerment potential, digital health technologies (DHTs) benefit everyone, especially older adults (OAs) who may face multiple age-related complex health issues. By fueling the revolutionary way of managing health, DHTs can potentially reduce health inequalities. However, this is only true if access and competency are not some of the barriers to taking their full advantages. The double-edged nature of DHTs can either bridge or exacerbate health disparities. Aside from systemic infrastructures and policies, the development of DHTs that do not meet the needs of populations experiencing disadvantage, such as OAs, can perpetuate the digital health divide. In Malaysia, there is little research on how OAs view local DHTs, much less their involvement in DHTs development. Therefore, Phase 1 of this three-part research seeks to address the research question – How do community dwelling OAs with chronic conditions in Malaysia perceive DHTs? Through digital design ethnography, OAs above 60 years old were interviewed to understand their use of DHTs for managing health. The think-aloud technique was also deployed as studying the subtleties of human behaviour patterns is a powerful tool for designing user-friendly DHTs. This paper presents the preliminary findings of the 25 participants’ perceptions, motivations and expectations in using DHTs. By focusing on user-experiences and incorporating the voices of older DHTs end-users, valuable insights from this research can be used as informed guidelines to develop viable DHTs. This human-centricity may offer new lens of seeing OAs as assets, so that they can optimally age-in-place as technology continues advancing.

Authors:
Sharifah Rose Ee, Monash University Malaysia, Malaysia

About the Presenter(s)
Ms Sharifah Rose Ee is a University Doctoral Student at Monash University Malaysia in Malaysia

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