Examining a Model of Mobile Healthcare Technology Acceptance by the Elderly in Taiwan

Abstract

“Graying of the globe” is an increasing phenomenon worldwide, accompanied with the expanding healthcare costs of long-term care and hospitalization. To deal with this issue, previous medical literature has suggested that the ultimate success of telemedicine depends not only on the technology itself but also on users’ acceptance of the technology. Differing from past healthcare studies which focused on physicians’ viewpoints, the current study investigates the use intention of mobile healthcare devices from the perspectives of elderly people in Taiwan. Meanwhile, this study proposes a model of mobile healthcare technology acceptance, and provides a theoretical and empirical assessment including sociological, technological, and individual variables. To achieve the research purpose, elderly people in the community were invited to participate in the study, with 338 effective questionnaires eventually collected for analysis using the structural equation modeling technique. The empirical results support the inclusion of perceived ubiquity, personal health knowledge, and perceived need for healthcare in the technology acceptance model. In sum, the mobile healthcare technology acceptance model provides researchers and practitioners with in-depth understanding of the introduction of new mobile healthcare technology devices. Further discussion is provided.