State-of-science paper highlights health inequalities' impact on digital skills in ageing populations, suggesting pathways for inclusive design.
Inclusive design has evolved as a design approach and a research topic in the last three decades. Despite its evolution, there are new frontiers to consider in the context of two phenomena: global ageing populations and the digital transition of services, particularly healthcare. This state-of-science paper presents challenges to be considered when taking an intersectional perspective and its impact on the development of digital health intervention (DHI). We present evidence highlighting how health inequalities can impact digital skills, affecting the use of DHI and potentially exacerbating existing health disparities. We offer a more nuanced understanding of ageing, considering multiple levels of disadvantage and its impact on people benefiting from DHI. We speculate on the future of digital interactions powered by artificial intelligence, which can guide the future development of inclusive design. We conclude by proposing a roadmap embracing a more intersectional inclusive design with routes for human factors research, practice, and policy.
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Zitkus et al. (2025) studied this question.
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