The Acceptance of Health Information Systems by Senior Citizens: A Technology Acceptance Model

With the accelerating ageing of the population, there is an increasing need for older citizens to adapt to using digital healthcare solutions, including Health Information Systems (hereinafter – HIS), as an important element of affordable medicine. The primary purpose of this study is to examine the use and acceptance of HIS among senior citizens in Turkey who are actively employed or capable of working, using the Technology Acceptance Model (hereinafter – TAM) as the theoretical framework. A quantitative research design was applied, including survey data from 221 elderly individuals and a comparative dataset from 50 middleaged and 56 elderly participants. The results showed that self-efficacy (β = 0.73, p < 0.001) and facilitating conditions (β = 0.77, p < 0.001) significantly predicted perceived ease of use, which in turn was significantly related to perceived usefulness (β = 0.73, p < 0.001). However, neither perceived usefulness nor perceived ease of use significantly affected attitude or behavioral intention among elderly participants. T-tests revealed no statistically significant differences in HIS acceptance between middle-aged (33–40) and elderly (65–76) groups across all factors (p > 0.05). The analysis results indicated that the physical, motor and cognitive skills of elderly individuals who are active in working life or able to work are in better condition than their peers. Accordingly, the usage and acceptance levels of HIS among middle-aged and elderly individuals are almost at the same level. However, it has been determined that some improvements will improve the usage level.