Abstract
The increasing spread of technology opens many avenues for helping individuals in different age groups to increase and maintain their health. This is especially true if health promotion is conceptualized as self-regulation with the aim of a healthy and active lifestyle. New technologies are especially adequate to support older people with special needs, such as age-related cognitive and physiological limitations and comorbidities. However, it is imperative to address the characteristics which increase with age and to specifically target them in programs. When investigating the psychology of the lifespan, the topics age, health, and health promotion mediated by new technologies become central. This paper is a review of health promotion programs using new technologies in general (e. g., Internet, SMS, smartphones, and telephone in comparison to print media and personal contact) and with special emphasis on the specific needs of the elderly. In addition, we report exemplary findings from an Internet study in which older individuals with diabetes where assessed. The current state of research is reported with the aim to provide ideas for research and practice.
Keywords: Age, diabetes, Internet, e-mail, SMS, smartphone, health behavior change, expert systems
