Abstract
The power of social media to connect people and let them share knowledge and information provides a great opportunity for older adults, arguably more so than for other age groups, to take advantage of this technology to improve their health as they are more susceptible to health related issues and complications. In this work-in-progress research we aim to uncover the factors that make social media health interventions effective for older adults to persuade them to change their health attitudes and the relative importance of each of these factor. Based on the principles of the Health Belief Model and the Elaboration Likelihood Model and unique characteristics of social media, our research model proposes that perceived message credibility, attractiveness, and emotional support are more important determinants of health related perceptions and consequently the intention to engage in a health specific behavior than message quality in older adults compared to other age groups.
Recommended Citation
Mashayekhi, Morteza and Head, Milena, "Understanding the Role of Social Media in Health Attitude Change among Older Adults" (2015). SIGHCI 2015 Proceedings. 13.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/sighci2015/13