Disparity of Access to Digital State Welfare System for The Elderly: A case study of Khon Kaen Province.

Abstract

The purposes of the study were 1. To study the current electronic public services available for the welfare of older persons, and 2. To study the factors causing disparities of access to digital state welfare in Khon Kaen Province. This qualitative research used the semi-structure in-depth interview method to collect data from selective random sampling 12 older persons, aged between 61 and 75 years and living in and around the Khon Kaen municipal area, then bringing these data to do content analysis. The research findings were as follows: 1) Study the current electronic public services available for the welfare of older persons, findings suggested that there were disparities of access to the digital state welfare for the elderly in Khon Kaen Province, and 2) Several factors which affected the disparities of access were sufficiency of electronic services, access to electronic equipment and service machines, understanding how to use electronic services and facilities, costs of using electronic services, and acceptance of electronic service quality. More importantly, the research findings showed that the elderly living in the municipal area had more access to the digital state welfare than those living outside the municipal area because of the greater number of electronic equipment and service machines such as ATMs and bank branches, as well as internet availability in the municipal area, and better skills of using digital devices such as smartphones. In addition, the research findings indicated that fear of using electronic services affected the access to the digital state welfare. Most older persons still relied on face-to-face assistance from family and the community to access electronic benefits. Despite having been trained in how to use electronic devices or ATMs by their children, most of the elderly still could not do so because they were unable to remember the password, etc. Also, fear of making a mistake and causing damage or additional costs resulted in the older persons’ lack of confidence in using electronic services.