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oai:figshare.com:article/34021524 2026-09-29T05:53:40Z category_427 portal_316 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Table 1_Digital inclusion in China’s national smart health and older adult care policy design: an access-oriented and uneven embedding pattern, 2013–2025.xlsx Haiyan Wu (257197) Miao Xing (586852) Yunhan Wang (9978785) Yu Jia (128864) Qinming Yu (25135626) Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified China content analysis digital inclusion healthy ageing older adults policy instruments smart health and older adult care Background<p>Population ageing and rapid digitalisation of health and care services have raised concerns about whether older adults are adequately considered in digital policy design. Although digital inclusion is an increasingly visible policy goal, little is known about how national policy instruments embed digital inclusion or respond to older adults’ multidimensional needs.</p>Methods<p>We developed a Policy Alignment Framework linking policy instruments, digital inclusion orientations, and older adults’ needs. A quantitative content analysis was conducted on 35 national-level smart health and older adult care policy documents issued in China between 2013 and 2025. In total, 1,033 policy statements were coded and analysed using descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation, Pearson’s chi-square tests, Cramer’s V, and adjusted standardised residuals.</p>Results<p>Digital inclusion was structured but unevenly embedded in national policy design. Among all coded statements, 48.8% contained no explicit digital inclusion orientation, 42.2% addressed access and environment, and only 9.0% addressed capability-building and safety protections. Policy instruments were significantly associated with digital inclusion orientations. Technology/data and platform interconnection instruments were over-represented in access- and environment-oriented inclusion, while capability-building and safety-protection measures were mainly concentrated in fiscal and regulatory instruments. Older adults’ needs were also unevenly aligned with digital inclusion. Health care and service access needs dominated the policy corpus, whereas social–emotional support, development and autonomy, and participation-oriented needs received limited attention. Overall, digital inclusion was framed mainly as infrastructure, platform development, and service accessibility rather than a broader capability, affordability, safety, and participation challenge.</p>Conclusion<p>This study identifies an access-oriented and uneven embedding pattern of digital inclusion across policy instruments and need domains in China’s national smart health and older adult care policy design. Moving towards equity-sensitive digital ageing policy requires greater attention to capability-building, affordability support, safety protection, offline fallback arrangements, and participation-oriented support. The Policy Alignment Framework offers a transferable tool for assessing digital inclusion governance in ageing and digitally transforming societies. As this study examines national policy design rather than implementation outcomes, the findings indicate policy intent and textual orientation, not actual digital inclusion effects.</p> 2026-09-29T05:53:40Z Dataset Dataset 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1944635.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Table_1_Digital_inclusion_in_China_s_national_smart_health_and_older_adult_care_policy_design_an_access-oriented_and_uneven_embedding_pattern_2013_2025_xlsx/34021524 CC BY 4.0