Year: 2023
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The use of mobile health (mHealth) in asthma and COPD is growing in tandem with shifting demographic trends towards an older population. While mHealth innovations may hold great promise in helping older adults manage asthma and COPD, the two most common chronic airways conditions, many apps and mobile digital devices are not designed with older adults in mind, and older age is known to be a barrier to health technology adoption in general. Furthermore, little is currently known about how older adults with asthma and COPD specifically experience mHealth use. The purpose of this thesis is to illuminate these knowledge gaps and achieve a greater understanding of mHealth research and use in older adults with chronic airways disease. In the first study, I quantitatively analyzed uptake of and engagement with an mHealth asthma questionnaire among older adults, demonstrating that older age (>/=65 years) was associated with decreased uptake, but not engagement. This finding suggests that adverse perceptions of mHealth among older adults are an important barrier to adoption, even among tools optimized for older adult usability. In the second study, I systematically explored the asthma and COPD mHealth literature using a scoping review approach. In studies across the mHealth research cycle, I found that needs and perspectives of older adults have seldom been specifically considered, including in tool design. Even when included in the study populations, study designs and analyses seldom considered older adults separately. In the third study I used a phenomenological approach to qualitatively assess the perspectives and experiences of older adults with asthma and COPD in their use of mHealth. Through this analysis, I demonstrated a central tension among older adults between the use of mHealth to maintain independence and apprehension to a changing healthcare technology landscape. Overall, this thesis resulted in a deeper understanding of mHealth use among older adults with asthma and COPD, including quantitative and qualitative analyses of use and the state of current research, leading to identification of important evidence gaps that may inform future research, clinical practice, and health policy decisions with the goal of promoting effective and equitable use of mHealth in asthma and COPD across demographics.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Kouri, Andrew
Institution: University of Toronto
Language: English
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7132969532