Need assessment of ICT literacy for development of multi‐domain telehealth intervention among cognitive frail (CF) older adults: A preliminary study.

Background: Telehealth is an alternative platform in managing and delivering health care services to clients using information and communication technologies (ICT). Usage of digital technology among older adults is influenced by many internal and external factors. However, information related to the readiness of tehnology use in developing multi‐domain telehealth among community‐dwelling older adults was still lacking. Method: This study was part of the screening phase of an ongoing Ageless trial for developing multi‐domain telehealth intervention for CF older adults. This study included community dwelling older adults aged 60 years and above with cognitive frailty assessed using Fried's criteria. A questionnaire related to digital technology usage was administered to evaluate the need assessement of ICT literacy. Sampling method was purposive sampling. Data was analysed descriptively and using the Chi Square test. Result: At this preliminary stage, 170 older adults (68.5 year old ± 5.7) living in Kuala Lumpur city participated. Majority of the participants were females (60.6%), from Malay ethnic group (71.2%), married (60.6%), attained upper secondary education level (29.7%) and retired. About one‐third of participants were precognitively‐frail (30.4%) and prefrail (32.8%) and were able to access internet (26.7%) at their homes using smartphones (34.1%), followed by computers or laptops (3.0%) and tablets (2.7%). Older adults with CF used less digital technology and reduced playing games on their phone (4.4%). Therefore, the framework of multi‐domain telehealth intervention designed for older adults must include senior‐friendly specifications for motivating its use among them. Proper training and guidance may boost confidence of older people to use the telehealth. Components in multi‐domain telehealth have to provide more educational talks, assistance during session and design more friendly‐user. Conclusion: Our preliminary results suggest that older adults with cognitive frailty utilised less digital technology and preferred senior‐friendly and less complex digital technology. Promotion and expansion of the use digital technology among older adults with CF especially in rural area must be emphasized. Framework of multi‐domain telehealth intervention have to be refined in order to be suited among older adults, their cargivers and stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]