Perspectives on user experience for a nation-wide senior telehealth program

Abstract

Prior evidence shows that senior people accept technology and enjoy self-monitoring. Home telehealth support increases their confidence and sense of security. The use of communication technologies plays an important role avoiding isolation and loneliness. This paper presents a qualitative study of 7 seniors, 4 nurses, 2 physicians and the program manager of a nation-wide senior telehealth program. The program targets the follow-up of senior people aged over 70 years old with about 24.000 participants. In order to minimize social isolation and promote healthy behaviours, nurses contact seniors through periodical phone-calls, applying a comprehensive geriatric assessment to evaluate their physical, mental and social wellbeing. Our findings show and compare the perspectives from the several program stakeholders, evaluating their interest in the adoption of a complementary web channel with an integrated personal health record. We present user experience concerns and directions that derive from the interviews’ outcomes of our study to design senior telehealth multi-channel platforms.