Low-income Elders' Experiences in Using u-Health (Ubiquitous Healthcare) Services

Hanna Choi; Jeongeun Kim

doi:10.12799/jkachn.2014.25.4.270

Journal List > J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs > v.25(4) > 1058358

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Choi and Kim: Low-income Elders' Experiences in Using u-Health (Ubiquitous Healthcare) Services

Original Article

Journal of Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing 2014; 25(4): 270-281.

Published online: 31 December 2014

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2014.25.4.270

Low-income Elders' Experiences in Using u-Health (Ubiquitous Healthcare) Services

Hanna Choi¹, Jeongeun Kim²

¹Graduate School, College of Nursing, Seoul National University · Institute, Korean Academy of Medical Sciences, Seoul, Korea.

²College of Nursing, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.

Corresponding author: Kim, Jeongeun. College of Nursing, Seoul National University, 28 Yongon-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-799, Korea. Tel: +82-2-740-8483, Fax: +82-2-765-4103, kim0424@snu.ac.kr

Received 5 August 2014 Revised 20 December 2014 Accepted 22 December 2014

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to understand low-income elders' experiences of community-based u-Health services.

Methods

Qualitative data were collected from 11 participants. All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcribed data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

Results

Three themes and eight sub-themes emerged as a result of analysis. The three main themes were 'recovered confidence and health condition,' 'trial and error in change,' and 'hope.'The eight sub-themes were 'the burden and efforts to overcome it in using bio-signal device,' 'ambivalence due to changing lifestyle,' 'increase of care time, decrease of pressure', 'conflict under environmental constraints,' 'difficulty in prioritizing health management,' 'discouragement in handling new devices,' 'desire not to be a burden to their children-gradual fulfillment of learning needs,' and 'long for broadening coverage range of services.'

Conclusion

The findings of this study demonstrate that low-income elders among the participants have different needs in using u-Health services. Therefore, health professionals need to give personalized education to deal with their conflicts and requirements, especially emotional and environmental support in order for them to successfully accept the u-Health services for self-care.

Keywords: Telemedicine, Vulnerable populations, Elderly, Qualitative research

Figures and Tables

Table 1

Demographic Information for Participants (N=11)

Table 2

Qualitative Analysis of Experience on Using of u-Health Services

Notes

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIP) (No.2010-0028631).

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