Older persons’ experiences of one-to-one in-home support for their digital needs: A qualitative study of a Digital Coach service
2025 (English)In: Digital Health, E-ISSN 2055-2076, Vol. 11Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Background
Older persons (those 65 years of age and older) have the lowest digital competence and are thus at an increased risk of exclusion from a digitalizing society. To bridge this digital divide, several Swedish municipalities have introduced a service called Digital Coach (DC), where older persons can request in-home support for their digital needs. Little is known about older persons’ experiences of this unique service.
Objective
To study older persons’ experiences of one-to-one in-home support, with their digital needs, through the DC service.
Methods
A qualitative study was conducted through interviews, and the data were analysed using qualitative content analysis following the approach of Graneheim and Lundman.
Results
The older persons (n = 14) expressed awareness of the importance of digital competence to keep up with the times to avoid exclusion and vulnerability. They requested support to become part of a digital society. The DC service was experienced as providing respectful support at home, which is considered a calm, safe environment. They expressed that the support made them feel valued and increased opportunities for independence and social participation.
Conclusions
Older persons found one-to-one in-home support to be the optimal form of support for their digital needs. The support gave them the best conditions to achieve digital competence, and without the support, would have felt stranded. Efforts to support older persons’ digital competence should be based on the older persons’ own digital needs and be provided in their home.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Sage Publications, 2025. Vol. 11
Keywords [en]
Older person, one-to-one support, in-home, digital competence, qualitative study
National Category
Public Health, Global Health and Social Medicine Nursing
Research subject
Research on Citizen Centered Health, University of Skövde (Reacch US); Wellbeing in long-term health problems (WeLHP)
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:his:diva-25896DOI: 10.1177/20552076251384828ISI: 001586287400001PubMedID: 41050622Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105017541383OAI: oai:DiVA.org:his-25896DiVA, id: diva2:2003865
Funder
Swedish Research Council, DNR 2022-06348Region Västra Götaland, Skaraborgsinstitutet 21/1025
Note
CC BY 4.0
First published online October 3, 2025
Volume 11, January-December 2025
The final two named authors should both be counted as last authors.
Corresponding author: Elisabeth Berglund Kristiansson, School of Health Sciences, University of Skövde, SE 541 28 Skövde, Sweden. Email: elisabeth.berglund.kristiansson@his.se
Warm thanks to the older persons who participated in this study, the Digital Coach (DC), and the municipality for everyone’s trust and making this study possible. This work was conducted at the University of Skövde, Sweden, and in collaboration with and supported by the infrastructure of the Swedish Research School in Integrated Care for Future Teachers (SHIFT CARE), funded by the Swedish Research Council (DNR 2022-06348).
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The authors acknowledge Skaraborgsinstitutet (the Skaraborg Institute for Research and Development), Skövde, Sweden, who contributed funds to conduct this study (grant number 21/1025).
2025-10-062025-10-062025-11-24Bibliographically approved