Facilitators and barriers to the adoption of telehealth in older adults: An integrative review

Abstract

Telehealth offers a great opportunity to provide follow-up care and dailymonitoring of older adults in their homes. Although there is a significant body of literature related to telehealth in regard to design and adoption, little attention has been given by researchers to the perceptions of the older-adult end users of telehealth. As the numbers of older adults increases, there is a need to evaluate the perceptions of this population as they will most likely be the major users of telehealth. This review identified the current telehealth technologies that are available to older adults with a discussion on the facilitators of and barriers to those technologies. Literature published between 2003 and 2013 was reviewed using MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL. A total of 2387 references were retrieved, but only 14 studies met the inclusion criteria. This review indicates that 50% of the studies did not specifically address facilitators of and barriers to adopting telehealth with older adults. Also, studies in this population did not address caregivers' perceptions on the facilitators of and barriers to telehealth. The use of telehealth among older adults is expected to rise, but effective adoption will be successful if the patient's perspective is kept at the forefront.