Digital health in elder abuse: a scoping review and conceptual model

The global population is aging rapidly. With this demographic shift, a growing number of older adults are living with chronic conditions and geriatric syndromes, increasing their vulnerability to abuse and neglect. Elder abuse thus represents a critical yet under recognized public health challenge that undermines the dignity, health, and quality of life of older adults. Digital health technologies including mobile health, telemedicine, artificial intelligence (AI), serious games, and virtual reality (VR) offer innovative pathways for prevention, early detection, and management. This study aimed to identify and classify existing digital health applications in the context of elder abuse and to develop a conceptual model illustrating their roles. A scoping review following PRISMA-ScR guidelines was conducted in the PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, and IEEE databases to retrieve studies related to digital interventions addressing elder abuse. The findings were synthesized into thematic domains. On the basis of these results, a conceptual model was developed and validated by experts in psychiatry, geriatric, and digital health to ensure both clinical and technological relevance. Twenty-six studies met the inclusion criteria. The digital health applications were categorized into six domains: (1) medical and geriatric education, (2) prevention, (3) screening, (4) diagnosis, (5) treatment and intervention, and (6) forensic and legal support. Serious games and VR were used mainly for education and awareness, mHealth for prevention and screening, and AI-driven tools for diagnostic and forensic purposes. The experts emphasized combining immersive VR features with gamification to enhance engagement and learning outcomes. The proposed conceptual model systematically integrates core clinical needs with appropriate digital health modalities and maps technologies to key domains, including prevention, screening, and social support. Informed by literature synthesis and expert perspectives, the model provides a structured model to guide future research on digital health interventions in elder abuse.