Table 2 Concepts and categories extracted from the interviews

Feeling lonely (11^a)

A sense of helplessness

Isolation and loneliness

Being unimportant to others (10)

Seniors on the margin of digital health literacy

Sense of confusion (9) Feeling intense fear (21),

Anxiety and stress

Disconnection from the surrounding environment (4)

Preference for in-person visits (8)

Preference for traditional methods

Resistance to change

The emptiness of cyberspace (7)

Lack of trust in cyberspace

Fraud in cyberspace (6)

Not knowing about the Internet (20)

Lack of electronic literacy

Digital literacy limitation

Inability to connect to online spaces (8)

Low level of education (19)

Low education

Possessing traditional literacy (11)

Lack of training in Internet usage (11)

Inability to afford health expenses (15)

Economic-social gap

Intergenerational health literacy gap

Disregard for advice or online services (4)

Unexpected health-related expenses (22)

Ignorance about one's health status (9)

Educational and information gap

Lack of education and learning during younger years (6)

Failure to recognize health priorities (8)

Feeling burdened by others (28)

Sense of Despair

dependency

Being the cause of trouble for others (20)

Feelings of self-anger (15)

Self-distrust

Sense of inadequacy (16)

Increased susceptibility to illness with age (2)

physical disability

Physical weakness (11)

Impairment of vision and hearing (6)

Unavailability of using the Internet (8)

Impossibility of access

lack of means/skills to use digital technology

Absence of a smartphone (8)

Inability to use health-related applications (18)

Inability to use

Inability to use digital health measuring devices (16)