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Geriatrics
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Digital Innovations in Geriatric and Gerontological Care
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Digital Innovations in Geriatric and Gerontological Care

A Special Issue of Geriatrics (ISSN 2308-3417) belonging to the section "Geriatric Public Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 2540

Editor

Dr. Satu Elo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Wellbeing and Culture, Oulu University of Applied Sciences, Oulu, Finland
Interests: older people nursing; reablement at home; restorative care; digital gaming; remote homecare; digital solutions

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I am pleased to serve as Guest Editor for this Special Issue on Digital Innovations in Geriatric and Gerontological Care.

The rapid aging of the global population, combined with the growing prevalence of cognitive impairment and other chronic conditions, poses significant social and healthcare challenges. At the same time, digital innovations offer unique opportunities to support active and healthy aging. Telehealth, remote monitoring, assistive devices, artificial intelligence and smart home solutions can enhance independence, improve health outcomes and support caregivers. These innovations should also be developed and implemented in ways that promote sustainable development, ensuring equitable access, efficient use of resources and long-term societal benefits.

This Special Issue will focus on the development, implementation and evaluation of digital solutions for older adults, with particular attention to usability, accessibility, ethical considerations, user experiences and impacts on care outcomes. Because this field is inherently complex, multidisciplinary research—bringing together expertise from health sciences, technology, social sciences and ethics—is essential to create impactful and sustainable innovations. Equally important is the perspective and competence of professionals working in geriatric and gerontological care, including nurses, rehabilitation specialists, physicians and social-care experts, whose insights are crucial for designing practical and user-centered solutions.

It is therefore my pleasure to invite international submissions describing novel technologies, digital interventions, feasibility studies, systematic reviews, qualitative and quantitative research, quasi-experimental studies and randomized controlled trials.

Dr. Satu Elo
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Geriatrics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • digital solutions
  • remote care telehealth
  • smart solutions
  • healthy aging
  • older adults

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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22 pages, 1264 KB  
Article
Ultrasound-Based Wearable for Older Chronic Back Pain Patients: A Requirement Analysis of a User Interface for Biofeedback
by Luis Perotti, Oskar Stamm, Susan Vorwerg-Gall, Lisa Mesletzky, Drin Ferizaj, Steffen Dißmann, Sandra Stube-Lahmann, Marc Fournelle, Nils Lahmann and Ursula Müller-Werdan
Geriatrics 2026, 11(3), 59; https://doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics11030059 - 15 May 2026
Viewed by 1467
Abstract
Purpose: This study explores how older adults with chronic back pain (CBP) evaluate different user interface (UI) designs and gamification elements for an ultrasound-based wearable providing real-time biofeedback during segmental stabilization exercises (SSE). The aim is to identify design preferences and motivational factors [...] Read more.
Purpose: This study explores how older adults with chronic back pain (CBP) evaluate different user interface (UI) designs and gamification elements for an ultrasound-based wearable providing real-time biofeedback during segmental stabilization exercises (SSE). The aim is to identify design preferences and motivational factors to enhance usability, engagement, and adherence in this specific population. Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study with 15 older adults (aged ≥ 65) experiencing CBP. Participants interacted with three UI mockups (simple, anatomical, and playful) via a Wizard-of-Oz simulation and evaluated additional motivational elements (e.g., points, badges, progress charts). Semi-structured interviews and the Technology Usage Inventory (TUI) subscales were used to assess usability, acceptance, and intention to use. Results: Participants preferred the simple and anatomical UI designs, citing clarity, professionalism, and ease of interpretation. The playful design was viewed as less appropriate due to perceived infantilization. Game elements such as progress tracking, points, and levels were positively received, while competitive features like leaderboards were viewed critically. Most participants expressed interest in integrating pain education, favoring multimedia formats. Conclusions: Digital health tools for older adults must prioritize intuitive, medically reliable interfaces and allow personalization of motivational and educational components. The findings highlight the need for age-appropriate UI design and suggest that well-balanced gamification and educational features may enhance perceived acceptance and have the potential to support long-term use, which should be evaluated in longitudinal studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Innovations in Geriatric and Gerontological Care)
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Review

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22 pages, 972 KB  
Review
Appropriateness over Numbers: Pharmacological Burden and Scalable Medication Review in Older Adults
by Michał Pstrągowski, Dawid Hachlica and Łukasz Izbicki
Geriatrics 2026, 11(4), 100; https://doi.org/10.3390/geriatrics11040100 - 10 Aug 2026
Viewed by 291
Abstract
Polypharmacy in older adults is common, rising and inconsistently defined, and it is widely treated as a problem of how many medicines a person takes. This non-systematic narrative review argues that its harm depends more on the appropriateness of the regimen and the [...] Read more.
Polypharmacy in older adults is common, rising and inconsistently defined, and it is widely treated as a problem of how many medicines a person takes. This non-systematic narrative review argues that its harm depends more on the appropriateness of the regimen and the pharmacological burden the regimen imposes, with the number of drugs a partly confounded marker rather than the principal cause. Drawing on evidence published mainly since 2020, it traces the shift from counting medicines to weighting them; the prescribing cascade as a patterned and detectable source of inappropriate use; the explicit criteria (Beers, STOPP/START, EURO-FORTA) and implicit measures (the Medication Appropriateness and Drug Burden indices) that give appropriateness operational form; and the evidence that deprescribing is feasible and generally safe, although its benefit is conditional and depends on how it is done. Because these criteria can be applied to medication lists held in routine data, potentially inappropriate prescribing can increasingly be identified beyond the single encounter and at population scale, even as automated tools remain unreliable at judging whether a flagged criterion applies to the individual patient. The review concludes that medication review should prioritise appropriateness and the individual benefit–risk balance rather than the medication count, and that detection can increasingly be scaled even though the clinical decision and the patient’s agreement cannot. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Innovations in Geriatric and Gerontological Care)
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