Designing and Evaluating an mHealth Application for Rural Elderly Care Using a Structured Development Framework and Technology Acceptance Evaluation: Evidence from Thailand

Mobile health (mHealth) systems in rural communities require rigorous software engineering methodology and empirical validation of end-user acceptance. A gap exists in applying structured System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) frameworks to community-facing mHealth platforms with embedded technology acceptance evaluation. This study presents the design, architecture, and iterative development of the “Smart Daily Life Care” cross-platform mobile application using a six-phase SDLC framework, targeting rural elderly communities in Thailand. The system architecture employed a microservices design with age-friendly UI engineering, conforming to WCAG 2.1 AA. Technology acceptance was evaluated post-deployment using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with 200 participants (elderly users, caregivers, and health personnel). System efficiency was rated at x¯ = 4.58 and user satisfaction at x¯ = 4.64. TAM regression identified perceived usefulness as the dominant predictor of behavioral intention (β = 0.412), followed by perceived ease of use (β = 0.318) and social influence (β = 0.268), with R2 = 0.682. Integrating TAM evaluation within SDLC phases enables iterative remediation of acceptance barriers before deployment. Village Health Volunteer networks function as indispensable sociotechnical enablers of adoption. The SDLC–TAM integration provides a structured methodological approach suitable for replication in age-sensitive health information systems in low-resource settings.