Middle-aged adults’ attitudes toward health app usage: a comparison with the cognitive-affective-conative model

Abstract

Middle-aged adults have a stronger sense of urgency about health apps that not only enhance their health management but also help them administer self-treatment. However, middle-aged adults’ attitudes toward health app usage have received surprisingly little scholarly attention, which has hampered the promotion of this kind of apps among them. To remedy this deficiency, this research specifically investigated this vital issue and presents findings contributory to promoting health apps. Our research findings indicated that (1) middle-aged adults with no health management habit tend to find health apps valuable and get a favorable impression about them, while those who already have the habit do not; (2) most middle-aged adults do not decide to use health apps out of sentimental reasons; and (3) middle-aged adults’ confidence in using smartphones significantly influences their cognitive evaluation of health apps. In sum, these research findings suggested that middle-aged adults look at health apps in a non-affective manner, and their confidence in using smartphones facilitates their use of health apps.