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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Digital Public Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1568043
This article is part of the Research Topic Assistive Technologies in Aging and Disability View all 4 articles
Determinants of Digital Health Literacy Among Older Adult Patients with Chronic Diseases: A Qualitative Study
Provisionally accepted
Yujiao Shao 1
Yang Xiumu 1*
Qin Chen 2 Hongyan Guo 3 Xiaocui Duan 1 Xuejun Xu 1 Jianxing Yue 4 Zeyu Zhang 5 Shuang Zhao 6 Shiqing Zhang 1- 1 Bengbu Medical University, Bengbu, China
- 2 Suzhou Hospital Affiliated with Anhui Medical University, Suzhou, Liaoning Province, China
- 3 First Affiliated Hospital, Bengbu Medical University, Bengbu, China
- 4 Second Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical University, Bengbu, China
- 5 No. 902 Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army Joint Logistics and Security Force, Bengbu, China
- 6 First People's Hospital Affiliated with Bengbu Medical University, Bengbu, China
Objective: This study aimed to identify the factors influencing digital health literacy in older adult patients with chronic diseases. Methods: A descriptive qualitative approach incorporated purposive and snowball sampling methods. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 older adult patients with chronic diseases from three hospitals in Anhui Province between October 2023 and May 2024. Data were coded and analyzed using Nvivo 12.0 software and content analysis. Results: Two main themes and nine subthemes emerged: Driving factors: These include the accessibility of digital health resources, perceived value and management needs, family economic and social benefits, and social network support systems. Restricting factors: These include cognitive blind spots and understanding biases, basic skills and challenges in digital adaptation, psychosocial limitations, issues with health information quality, and concerns about digital security risks. Conclusion: The digital health literacy of older adult patients with chronic diseases is generally low, characterized by cognitive blind spots, and influenced by various personal and social factors. It is recommended to engage social forces, optimize the accessibility and applicability of digital health resources, create a supportive digital health environment, and help older adult patients improve their digital health literacy to enhance chronic disease self-management through digital health technology.
Keywords: Older adult, chronic diseases, digital health literacy, determinants, qualitative research
Received: 28 Jan 2025; Accepted: 11 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shao, Xiumu, Chen, Guo, Duan, Xu, Yue, Zhang, Zhao and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Yang Xiumu, Bengbu Medical University, Bengbu, China
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