Association Between Smartphone Application Diversity and Occupational Participation Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

Purpose: As digital technologies become increasingly embedded in daily life, evidence remains limited regarding how smartphone use relates to occupational participation among community-dwelling older adults. This study examined the association between smartphone application diversity and occupational participation in later life.

Methods: This cross-sectional study used health checkup data collected during 2024-2025. Occupational participation was assessed using the Self-Completed Occupational Performance Index (SOPI), which covers leisure, productivity, and self-care domains. Participants were classified into high application diversity (HAD) and low application diversity (LAD) groups based on the number of 12 smartphone applications used daily. Group differences were tested, and adjusted regression models with bootstrap resampling were used to assess independent associations and robustness.

Results: Among 97 participants, 67 were classified into the HAD group and 30 into the LAD group. Participants with HAD had higher total SOPI scores than those with LAD. In domain-specific analyses, application diversity was independently associated only with productivity-related occupational participation (adjusted β = 2.17, 95% CI: 0.49-3.86), and this association was supported by bootstrap results.

Conclusions: Greater diversity in smartphone application use was associated with more favorable engagement in productivity-related occupations among community-dwelling older adults. These findings suggest that application diversity may be a meaningful indicator of how digital technologies are integrated into productive roles and responsibilities in later life.