JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Digital health interventions (DHI) deliver health-related services in a digital manner. To be efficient and adopted in particular by older adults, they must be tailored to address their needs which could be realized by an inclusive design approach. Inclusive design is an approach that aims to accommodate the needs of a broad spectrum of users, taking into account factors such as socioeconomic status, gender, age, ethnicity, and language diversity.

Objective:

To develop a set of inclusive design heuristics for DHIs designed for older adults.

Methods:

Following the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines, this scoping review examined peer-reviewed papers from databases including IEEE Xplore, Scopus and PubMed collected on January 12, 2025. Studies were included if they (1) described a DHI specifically designed for individuals aged 60 years or older and (2) described an inclusive design approach. Data extraction included information on the DHI and its design process, facilitators and barriers for adopting DHI by older adults.

Results:

Out of 944 records, 34 papers were included and considered for data synthesis. DHI are provided through broad range of technical platforms (e.g. web-based, mobile, voice assistant). Sometimes, their design process included older adults but also clinicians, engineers and researchers. Design elements to be considered for inclusive design comprise 11 aspects covering multiple dimensions: visual design and readability, navigation, accessibility, customization and personalization, social engagement and support, learnability, multi-platforms and device compatibility, motivation, feedback and user engagement, security and privacy, inclusive language and costs. Barriers range from age-related health issues to technical hurdles related to access or connectivity.

Conclusions:

Inclusive design of DHI for older adults goes beyond usability and user interface design. The older adults have to be placed into the center of development, with their needs and challenges to be identified and addressed in the solution. Future work will have to validate our results from a practical perspective. Adoption of our heuristics in practice could be fostered by developing concrete methods considering the heuristics.