Authors:
Andreia Nunes
1
;
Teresa Limpo
2
and
São Luís Castro
1
Affiliations:
1
University of Porto and Center for Psychology at University of Porto, Portugal
;
2
Center for Psychology at University of Porto, Portugal
Keyword(s):
Age, Gender, Personality, Technology Acceptance, Health Applications.
Abstract:
Health applications, aimed at helping people with or without diseases to monitor their health, are attracting the interest of researchers and consumers. The use of health applications may have a short- and long-term impact on people’s lives by creating early habits to use technology to monitor health, which may prompt the sustained use of this technology over time. This is especially important for elders as these applications offer them the possibility to manage their health autonomously. However, elders are resistant to use technology. One way to improve technology acceptance is by understanding how users’ behavioral intention is influenced by personal characteristics, preferably before entering in the elderly stage of life. This was the main aim of this study: we explored the effects of age, gender, and personality on the behavioral intention to use health applications in younger and older adults (18-39 vs. 40-65 years). Results showed that the effects of personality on individuals
’ behavioral intention was moderated by age in older adults and by gender in younger adults. These findings seem relevant to promote the current and future use of health applications, helping people to improve their quality of life and stay healthy throughout the lifespan.
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