The Use of Internet-Based Health and Care Services by Elderly People in Europe and the Importance of the Country Context: Multilevel Study

BACKGROUND: Digital health care is becoming increasingly important, but it has the risk of further increasing the digital divide, as not all individuals have the opportunity, skills, and knowledge to fully benefit from potential advantages. In particular, elderly people have less experience with the internet, and hence, they are in danger of being excluded. Knowledge on the influences of the adoption of internet-based health and care services by elderly people will help to develop and promote strategies for decreasing the digital divide. OBJECTIVE: This study examined if and how elderly people are using digital services to access health and social care. Moreover, it examined what personal characteristics are associated with using these services and if there are country differences. METHODS: Data for this study were obtained from the Special Eurobarometer 460 (SB 460), which collected data on Europeans’ handling of and attitudes toward digital technologies, robots, and artificial intelligence, including data on the use of internet-based health and social care services, among 27,901 EU citizens aged 15 years or older. Multilevel logistic regression models were adopted to analyze the association of using the internet for health and social care services with several individual and country-level variables. RESULTS: At the individual level, young age, high education, high social class, and living in an urban area were positively associated with a high probability of using internet-based health and social services. At the country level, the proportion of elderly people who participated in any training activity within the last month was positively associated with the proportion of elderly people using these services. CONCLUSIONS: The probability of using internet-based health and social services and their accompanying advantages strongly depend on the socioeconomic background. Training and educational programs might be helpful to mitigate these differences.