HRMARS - Community-dwelling older adults increasingly encounter patient-centered mobile health (mHealth) tools for medication management, symptom monitoring, and communication with care providers, yet willingness to use these tools often does not progress to actual use. Existing adoption studies explain intention formation more often than the transition from intention to actual use, leaving enactment after intention formation insufficiently theorized for older populations. This paper addresses that gap by using theory to guide an integrative narrative review and conceptual synthesis of the literature on older adults, mHealth use, social support, and conversion from intention to behavior. Priority was given to studies published from 2021 to 2026, while classic theoretical sources were retained only when they provided the original conceptual foundation. Based on this synthesis, the paper treats mHealth adoption intention as the behavioral precursor, actual use as the focal outcome, and instrumental social support as a moderator that strengthens the conversion from intention to use when practical barriers arise. The resulting framework advances two propositions and offers a focused basis for future empirical testing, community support design, and digital inclusion policy aimed at reducing attrition after intention formation among older adults.
Chen et al. (Wed,) studied this question.