Telemedicine Homecare Among the Hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus Risk Elderly Group in Indonesian Primary Healthcare: A Technology Acceptance Model

Abstract

National data showed that the majority of deaths due to COVID-19 are elderly people with comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, and kidney failure who have a 3.5-fold risk of dying compared to non-elderly people. With an increasing number of elderly and a high prevalence of chronic diseases, home healthcare is important to enable people to be in their own homes rather than hospitals by taking advantage of telemedicine within limited distances. A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted with 157 elderly respondents of the Chronic Disease Management Program (Prolanis) at Primary Healthcare Facilities participants in Semarang Regency by a validated questionnaire. Analyzed by SPSS version 21 and a chi-square test. The respondent knowledge level with fewer telemedicine-related categories is about 47.1%. The attitude regarding the development of telemedicine in Prolanis was positive (79.0%), and positively perceived the development of telemedicine by 58.3%. Age ( p = .035; OR = 0.502) and gender ( p = .010; OR = 2.605) were significantly related to respondents’ knowledge. The educational background is significantly related to respondents’ attitudes ( p = .025; OR = 3.080). Health information technology (telemedicine) needs to be developed among elderly users, especially participants in the Prolanis (hypertension and diabetes mellitus type 2) in Health Service Facilities.