The Effects of a Theory-Based Patient Portal e-Learning Program for Older Adults with Chronic Illnesses

The high prevalence of chronic illnesses is a serious public health problem in the United States, and more than 70 million older adults have at least one chronic illness. Patient portals (PPs) have an excellent potential to assist older adults in managing chronic illnesses; however, older adults' PP adoption rates have been low. Lack of support for older adults using PPs remains a critical gap in most implementation processes. The main aim of this study was to assess the impact of an older adult friendly Theory-based Patient portal e-Learning Program (T-PeP) on PP knowledge, selected health outcomes (health decision-making self-efficacy [SE] and health communication), PP SE and use, and e-health literacy in older adults. A two-arm randomized controlled trial was conducted with older adults ( The average age of participants was 70.0 ± 8.5 years, and 78.3% ( The study findings showed that the T-PeP was effective in improving selected health and PP usage outcomes. Further studies are needed to test the long-term effects of T-PeP using more diverse samples.