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Digital wellness services for young elderly: a missed opportunity for mobile services
Carlsson C., Walden P. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research11(3):20-34,2016.Type:Article
Date Reviewed: 04/20/17

This is a preliminary report/proposal about using mobile digital services to help the “young elderly,” that is, people between 60 and 75 years old. Conclusions are based on the experience of a Finnish company offering corporate wellness programs for employees, and on a survey of 100 or so young elderly. The young elderly represent about 20 percent of the European Union (EU) population. Providing wellness support to this population is expected to pay off when a young elderly person becomes elderly. Wellness has four dimensions: the usually cited physical health and also intellectual, emotional, and social health. Deterioration of one, such as physical, can be compensated by strength in other dimensions; mobile applications can strengthen wellness in the other dimensions. Social media groups augment social health for handicapped people. The existing corporate wellness program described uses an “omnivore” platform that interacts with 110-plus applications and devices.

Four research questions are proposed. Will the young elderly use mobile services? Do the young elderly care about wellness? Will digital wellness services be effective? How can the provision of digital wellness services be sustained? Nearly 75 percent of those surveyed use a smartphone now. Interest was high concerning both physical health and intellectual challenges. Existing fitness mobile applications are effective with at least some middle-aged users, so refocusing these by working with the young elderly is promising. Sustaining a large-scale deployment will require technological infrastructure capable of serving millions of users, implying commercial involvement. A statistical analysis of the survey found small groups who could be early adopters of the wellness apps. The paper is rich in ideas and generally readable.

Reviewer:  B. Hazeltine Review #: CR145205 (1707-0488)

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