Older individuals and digital healthcare platforms: usage motivations and the impact of age on post-adoption usage patterns

Digital healthcare platforms have enabled patients to receive healthcare in ways that were impossible previously – for example, by providing a “safer” way to meet, as underscored by the Covid-19 pandemic. This paper investigates whether older and younger primary care users display behavioural differences on digital healthcare platforms. The paper adopts a mixed-method approach in which one- way ANOVA analysis on a sample of 152,000 patient journeys was combined with qualitative interview data. The findings highlight significant differences in usage between elderly and younger patients. The elderly spends more time during use – for example, during anamnesis, onboarding, and in queues. We also outline how the key antecedent factors that are most central to platform usage, such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, digital maturity, and trust, play out in the elderly user context. The study contributes to the nascent literature on digital healthcare platforms and the post-adoption usage of ICTs by the elderly. The paper also outlines research implications in the area of DHPs and mHealth for elderly users, and it discusses the practical implications for both platform owners and healthcare professionals, where platform design and information management are particularly important for elderly users.