Continued Intention of mHealth Care Applications among the Elderly: An Enabler and Inhibitor Perspective

Abstract

Optimal healthcare provision for the elderly is increasingly possible via real-time health indicators’ data generated by mHealth care applications. Yet, these apps require continuous utilization, which remains problematic. This research examines gamification, usability, as well as empathetic cooperation and social interaction (ESCI) as enablers whereas inertia, sunk cost, transition cost, perceived risk, and technological anxiety are validated as inhibitors of mHealth care applications continued usage intention. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT) and the Health IT Usability Evaluation Model (Health-ITUEM), the study also validates engagement as an influencer of continued intention. The sample comprised 643 older adults using mHealth care applications and residing in North Indian states. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was applied to assess and validate the hypothesized relationships. The results confirmed that usability strongly impacted engagement, followed by gamification and ESCI. Conversely, perceived risk emerged as the strongest inhibitor, followed by sunk cost, technological anxiety, and transition cost. Interestingly, Inertia had a positive and significant impact on engagement. This research is an initial endeavor to understand enablers and inhibitors of mHealth care applications (mHealth care apps) concerning older adults. The model that emerged from this study would provide valuable insights by validating various significant issues to generate engagement of the elderly towards mHealth care apps.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 28 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.