Assessment of utilization and willingness to use it devices to support heath management

Abstract

Background Amongst the technological solutions that aim to facilitate daily tasks, the potential contributions of mhealth is significant, mainly within the crescent elderly population presenting chronic diseases and using medication. Thus, this study aimed to assess the utilization and willingness to use IT devices to support health management, such as medication management. Methods A cross-sectional study was held, including the application (face-to-face and online) of an electronic questionnaire, with 164 participants. Data were processed using SPSS v27. Results Study participants had a mean age of 37.6 ± 20.0 years old, 23.8% were ≥ 60 years old, 73.2% female, 28% declared to suffer a chronic disease, with 27.4% using chronic medication and mostly managed by oneself (71.1%). Most of the participants owned and used a mobile phone (respectively 93.9% and 59.8%), a tablet (48.8% and 44.5%), and a computer (73.8% and 17.1%). Only about half of the participants aged ≥ 60 years declared to use their mobile devices to internet access (mobile phones 51.3%, tablet 35.9% and computers 41%). In this group, only 2% mentioned using applications in the health area. Overall, 85.4% considered these tools could be useful, although fewer would be willing to buy them (33.6% for < 60 years and 66.7% for ≥ 60 years). Conclusions The use of IT devices is less widespread in the older population, the age groups with greatest need for tools to support health management. Future development of this area must pay special attention to target audience characteristics and their limitations in the use of technology.

Alternative Evacuation Procedures and Smart Devices’ Impact Assessment for Large Passenger Vessels under Severe Weather Conditions

“…For this reason, a comprehensive literature review regarding mobile phone usage and applications for navigation purposes across different age groups was undertaken. It is assumed that the percentages for mobile usage would be 80% for the age group 10-30 [37], 90% for the age group 30-50, and 60% for the age group 50+ [38]. The following Figure 12 depicts the proper mobile usage percentages across the different age groups.…”