Abstract
In a bid to tackle issues associated with ageing, developed nations have adopted – or are considering – the use of personal health technologies such as mobile health apps and wearables, to better cater to the needs of seniors. Despite the promise of technological devices in elderly care, there remains significant challenges in encouraging technological adoption among older adults. Extant research have largely considered the idea of acceptance or seniors’ intention to use various technologies, without clearly discussing how seniors integrate such technologies into their daily lives. To better understand seniors’ experiences and motivations in integrating health technologies into their daily lives, we conducted focus groups with four categories of stakeholders familiar with the lives of seniors, namely staff and volunteers from senior activity centres, digital technology “ambassadors” for seniors and seniors themselves. To analyse the data, we adopted a theory-based approach using the Basic Psychological Needs Theory (BPNT) as an initial framework. Our findings reveal that BPNT provided a useful framework to understand how and why seniors integrate personal health technologies into their lives. Specifically, the fulfilment of the basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness appear central to whether seniors willingly integrate personal health technologies. While there is still a proportion of seniors who face resistance towards technology and whose needs are not met by existing technologies to be integrated with their lives, there is much potential to be reaped from the improvements and advancements in technology based on findings and possible implications.