Using Mobile Videoconferencing to Deliver Simultaneous Multi-Centre Health Education to Elderly People: A Pilot Study on Acceptance and Satisfaction

Background: Improving the health literacy of elderly people is an important means of promoting preventive care by empowering self-health management. While talks and workshops are common ways of delivering health education, their scale and coverage are limited by practical constraints. In this regard, a mobile multi-centre videoconferencing (VC) approach is proposed to connect elderly people at different elderly care centres, so that healthcare promotion activities conducted at one centre can be multicast simultaneously to others. The aim of this pilot study is to evaluate the acceptance and satisfaction of users with this approach. Methods: Three VC sessions were conducted to evaluate users’ acceptance and satisfaction of the proposed approach in different settings from a technical perspective. Healthcare promotion activities concerning healthy diets and health-promoting exercises were delivered using a commercial videoconferencing system and a cellular 4G network. User acceptance and satisfaction were measured at the end of each session using a 10-item 5-point Likert questionnaire, with 5 indicating the most positive response. Results: A total of 96 participants aged 60 years or above were recruited, with 12, 30, and 54 participants taking part in the three sessions, respectively. The mean scores of the items for the three sessions were within the ranges of 4.3–4.8, 4.4–4.8, and 3.7–4.5, respectively. Conclusion The results show that the multi-centre videoconferencing approach was accepted by the participants from a technical perspective. It is potentially a feasible approach for promoting health literacy to elderly people