ArticleBMC public health2025
The role of ICT use in reducing social isolation among older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from frail and healthy older adults in Sakai City, Japan.
Article in BMC public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Digital Empowerment for Older Women: Addressing Inequality Through Competence Training.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Perceived healthy community environment and loneliness among older adults in China: indirect psychosocial pathways through community belongingness and multi-source received social support.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Social and Activity Participation and Subjective Well-Being Among Older Adults in Japan: A Comparative Analysis of Healthy and Care-Needing Groups.Journal of aging research · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSocial isolation among older adults has intensified during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, disproportionately affecting frail older adults. This study examines the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in reducing social isolation and explores its differential effects between frail and healthy older adults.
methodsThis study employed a quantitative research design with cross-sectional data obtained from the "Survey on Older Adults of Sakai City" in Japan. Social isolation is measured in terms of three dimensions: loneliness, social participation, and access to social support. Ordered probit techniques were employed to estimate the effects of ICT use frequency while controlling for individual characteristics.
resultsFrequent ICT use, including smartphones and voice calls, was significantly associated with reduced loneliness, with frail older adults benefiting more significantly. However, ICT use had a limited impact on increasing the diversity of social participation, likely due to the substitution of in-person activities with online interactions during the pandemic. Access to social support yielded mixed results, with no consistent improvement across the entire sample.
conclusionsICT serves as a valuable tool to alleviate loneliness among older adults, especially frail older adults, but it cannot fully replace face-to-face interactions to foster diverse forms of social participation. Simplified ICT tools and tailored training programs are essential to improve accessibility for frail older adults. Future efforts should explore integrating ICT with offline activities and leveraging emerging technologies, such as video conferencing, to address social isolation more comprehensively.
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