Enhanced Usability Framework with Need-Based and Push-Based Factors for Malaysia Elderly’s Mobile Health Application

The growing aging population has become a social issue in many countries worldwide. In Malaysia, this demographic shift has increased the burden on the government and citizens to effectively maintain and support elderly healthcare. While the digital health service market has seen rising demand, there is a lack of comprehensive research to develop a usability design framework for mobile health applications targeted at the elderly in Malaysia. This research proposes an improved usability framework to guide the design and development of Malaysian health service mobile applications for elderly users. This study adopts a quantitative research method. A proof-of-concept health service mobile application prototype, designed with seven usability factors such as efficiency, help and documentation, learnability, memorability, user-friendliness, need-based, and push-based features, was tested by 151 elderly participants in two categories—where they either completed tasks and explored the application’s features or reviewed a video guide before answering a questionnaire to assess their agreement with the usability factors influencing their acceptance of the health service mobile application. Statistical analysis revealed the strong reliability of these factors, with Pearson correlation coefficients ranging from 0.766 to 0.930 across the three participant groups, which included hands-on participation, video review, and a combination of both. Multiple regression analysis (MRA) yielded high R-squared values (0.874–0.896), indicating that efficiency, need-based, and push-based factors significantly influence acceptance of the mobile health application. These three usability factors form the enhanced usability framework to guide mobile application designers in developing suitable applications for the elderly. Future research should explore how this enhanced framework can support other relevant usability factors, aiming to develop a more comprehensive mobile application experience for elderly users. Ultimately, Malaysia’s future could see improvements in elderly healthcare access through a well-designed, need-based, and push-based health service mobile application.