Adults Use of ICT in Healthcare: The Persuasive Impact of Children

Healthcare as currently practiced and supported is increasingly unaffordable and incapable of dealing with emerging population dynamics in virtually every country in the world. Sustained behaviour change, within which ICT will likely play a prominent role, is required to meet the needs of the future. ICT has the ability enable new approaches and amplify efforts. Towards that end, educated adult children are in a unique position to influence their parents' use of ICT in healthcare given their inherent ICT familiarity, learned subject matter expertise and family trust. This study uses the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) as a guide to gather and analyze qualitative data from PhD students associated with an ehealth research institute to explore the persuasive impact of educated young adult children on their parents' use of ICT in healthcare. Results are presented. Implications for theory and practice are addressed.