ReviewBMC health services research2024
What are the determinants of older people adopting communicative e-health services: a meta-ethnography.
Review in BMC health services research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Digital Health Communication Engagement Experiences of Older Adults in Community Contexts: Qualitative Systematic Review and Meta-Ethnography.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Article
- Determinants of Healthcare Professionals' Intentions to Use Telemedicine for Elderly Care in Algeria: A Technology Acceptance Model Approach.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Experiences of Home-Dwelling Older Adults and Their Family Caregivers With Digital Health Services: Qualitative Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Article
- Identifying health risk profiles among older adults in Kerala using machine learning: multidimensional clustering, predictive determinants, and public health implications.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Age and the digital divide in the use of health technologies: a scoping review.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Review
- Virtual Visits in Pediatrics-Readiness, Barriers and Perceptions Among Healthcare Professionals: A Cross-Sectional Survey.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Optimising the provision of health information for older adults across paper and screen formats - A requirement study with content producers and consumers.PLOS digital health · 2025Article
- Implementation of Telehealth Among Older People: A Challenge and Opportunity for Latin America and the Caribbean-A Literature Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Co-creation of a motor-cognitive exercise programme-a qualitative study with older people and physiotherapists.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Differences in Challenges to Using Telehealth Among Older Adult Video and Telephone Users With Frailty: Retrospective Observational Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Observational
- "She has become my best friend": a qualitative study on the perspective of elderly with type 2 diabetes regarding the use of an interactive virtual assistant device for diabetes care and mental health promotion.Acta diabetologica · 2025Article
- The Impact of Depression and Leisure Activities on E-Health Literacy Among Older Adults: A Cross-Cultural Study in the EU and Japan.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- Perceptions of eHealth and digitalization among professional anaesthesia personnel: A Swedish national study.Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica · 2025Article
- Perceived Facilitators and Barriers, From the Perspective of Users, of a Multicomponent Intervention in Older People Using an Asynchronous Telehealth Modality During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Research.Journal of aging research · 2025Article
- Telemedicine in polish primary care during and after the COVID-19 crisis: a retrospective analysis of over 720,000 consultations.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Mapping cognitive diversity in older adults through community-based digital screening via mobile devices: a cross-sectional latent class analysis.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Article
- Older adults' preferences in the utilization of digital health and social services: a qualitative analysis of responses to open-ended questions.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- The neurosociological paradigm of the metaverse.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundGradually, society has shifted more services online, with COVID-19 highlighting digital inequalities in access to services such as healthcare. Older adults can experience such digital inequalities, yet this group is also more likely to need medical appointments, compared to younger people. With the growing digitalisation of healthcare, it is increasingly important to understand how older people can best use communicative e-health services to interact with healthcare services. This is especially if older adults are to access, and actively interact with health professionals/clinicians due to their general health decline. This review aims to synthesise older adults' experiences and perceptions of communicative e-health services and, in turn, identify barriers and facilitators to using communicative e-health services.
methodsA meta-ethnography was conducted to qualitatively synthesise literature on older adults' experiences of using communicative e-health services. A systematic search, with terms relating to 'older adults', 'e-health', 'technology', and 'communication', was conducted on six international databases between January 2014 and May 2022. The search yielded a total of 10 empirical studies for synthesis.
resultsThe synthesis resulted in 10 themes that may impact older adults' perceptions and/or experiences of using communicative e-health services. These were: 1) health barriers, 2) support networks, 3) application interface/design, 4) digital literacy, 5) lack of awareness, 6) online security, 7) access to digital devices and the internet, 8) relationship with healthcare provider(s), 9) in-person preference and 10) convenience. These themes interlink with each other.
conclusionThe findings suggest older adults' experiences and perceptions of communicative e-health services are generally negative, with many reporting various barriers to engaging with online services. However, many of these negative experiences are related to limited support networks and low digital literacy, along with complicated application interfaces. This supports previous literature identifying barriers and facilitators in which older adults experience general technology adoption and suggests a greater emphasis is needed on providing support networks to increase the adoption and usage of communicative e-health services.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.