Digital Wellness Services for Young Elderly (DigitalWells) Program

Oral Presentation B9.8

Authors

  • Tuomas Kari Institute for Advanced Management Systems Research; University of Jyvaskyla
  • Markus Makkonen Institute for Advanced Management Systems Research; University of Jyvaskyla
  • Christer Carlsson Institute for Advanced Management Systems Research
  • Pirkko Walden Institute for Advanced Management Systems Research
  • Lauri Frank University of Jyvaskyla

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14288/hfjc.v14i3.550

Keywords:

Physical Activity, Young Elderly, Mobile Application, National Health Repository

Abstract

Background: DigitalWells (https://www.digitalwells.fi) research and development program is carried out during 2019–2021 in Finland. DigitalWells aims to recruit over 1000 participants from the young elderly age group (60–75years) during 2019–2021 and then expand and continue as a national multi-year program. The main purpose is to promote the formation of sustainable everyday PA routines. Program Delivery: DigitalWells cooperates with the Finnish associations for retired people, through which local groups of 20–50 volunteers are formed. The groups are guided into the program either via meetings or remotely. A free DigitalWells mobile application is provided to the participants; the central features are related to logging PA and receiving reports about PA. Another key feature is the ability to transfer the logged personal PA data to My Kanta Personal Health Record (Kanta PHR), a Finnish national repository for personal wellness records. Participants carry out PA according to their own preferences. Evaluation: Efficiency is evaluated by examining the changes in PA levels. First published studies show that the participants have, on average, increased their PA during the participation despite Covid-19 restrictions, which in Finland caused temporal closure of exercise facilities and paused most group activities. 93% of the 610 participants (situation 2/2021) had integrated the application to Kanta PHR repository. Conclusions: DigitalWells seems effective in promoting free-living PA among young elderly. The use of Kanta PHR repository is widely accepted. Funding: Program funded by the Social Insurance Institution of Finland.

Published

2021-09-30

How to Cite

Kari, T., Makkonen, M., Carlsson, C., Walden, P., & Frank, L. (2021). Digital Wellness Services for Young Elderly (DigitalWells) Program: Oral Presentation B9.8. The Health & Fitness Journal of Canada, 14(3). https://doi.org/10.14288/hfjc.v14i3.550