Identifying the challenges of a telecare system establishment for older adults and providing a solution: a...

New approaches to health care delivery, including telecare, provide an opportunity to address the challenges in an aging population. Thus, this study aims to identify the challenges of the telecare system establishment for older adults in Iran and provide a solution.

The present research is qualitative and inductive study. Accordingly, 19 semi-structured interviews are conducted with experts in the fields of geriatrics, information technology management, informatics, and health services management. The data are analyzed by Braun & Clarke's thematic approach using MAXQDA.

According to the study results, the challenges of a telecare system establishment for older adults in Iran are classified into three categories: socio-cultural, structural-organizational, and legal. Within the socio-cultural domain, educational and behavior-communicational challenges are particularly noteworthy. The structural-organizational domain encompasses challenges related to workforce, policy, technical and infrastructure, standardization, and financial challenges. The legal domain also includes legal and security challenges.

The present study results indicated that a telecare system establishment for older adults faces numerous obstacles. EHealth initiatives in Iran are in their early stages, but it seems that the prerequisite for establishing telemedicine and telecare is the creation of electronic health records.