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Good practice Imported

Generations Connect — University of Hong Kong's Home-Based eHealth Literacy Pilot for the Oldest-Old

Hong Kong · Hong Kong · See the Hong Kong profile · See the Hong Kong profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 82% 52/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

HKU trained 57 nursing students to deliver home-based eHealth literacy coaching to 101 Hong Kong residents (median age 80), followed by 14 days of WhatsApp health messages. The pilot found modest, non-significant literacy gains but high satisfaction (4.32/5).

+2.39 points (P=.11)
eHealth Literacy Scale change
+0.45 hours (P=.07)
Daily smartphone use change
70.3%
Follow-up retention
4.32 out of 5
Participant satisfaction

Details

Maturity
Pilot
Promoter
University of Hong Kong, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine (School of Public Health and School of Nursing)
Period
2022–2025
Keywords
eHealth literacy, older adults, digital health, intergenerational mentoring

Context

Generations Connect, run by the University of Hong Kong's School of Public Health and School of Nursing, drew 101 older adults (median age 80) from a larger 6,704-person community health assessment cohort. Fifty-seven trained nursing students delivered a median 60-minute home visit covering eHealth literacy, non-communicable disease prevention, psychosocial health and COVID-19 education, followed by 14 days of daily WhatsApp health-coaching messages.

Results

Published in JMIR Formative Research in May 2025 as a single-arm, pre-post pilot, results were modest and honestly reported as not statistically significant: eHealth Literacy Scale scores rose from 21.41 to 23.80 (+2.39, P=.11) and daily smartphone use rose from 2.09 to 2.54 hours (+0.45h, P=.07). Self-reported behavioural indicators were more positive: 70% of the 71 participants completing the two-week follow-up (70.3% retention) reported increased physical activity, and overall satisfaction was 4.32 out of 5.

Conclusions

The authors present the study explicitly as feasibility evidence rather than proof of effect: with no control group and a small sample, the non-significant literacy and usage results are an honest signal that the intervention needs testing in a larger, controlled trial before any claim of impact can be made.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Delivered via nursing-student volunteers within an existing cohort study; no separate budget published.
Time to results
Short (< 1 year) — Recruitment Oct-Nov 2022; published May 2025.
Staffing & skills
57 trained nursing students, HKU School of Public Health and School of Nursing researchers

Conditions for success

  • home-based delivery for the hardest-to-reach oldest-old
  • WhatsApp-based low-tech follow-up coaching

Common failure modes

  • no control group; primary literacy and usage outcomes not statistically significant

Where it fits

Governance type
university-run pilot
Scale
single cohort
Income level
high-income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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