Promoting social participation among older adults requires creating opportunities for meaningful social roles and reciprocal relationships. To facilitate this, it is important to understand the impact of environmental factors on older adults’ engagement in social activities. Digital technology has proved to be a useful tool in engagement in many social activities. In promoting social participation through digital technology, it also becomes important to understand how access to services and systems through digital technologies can be improved.

The aim of the study is to identify environmental factors that older adults perceive as relevant in their occupational engagement in order to promote social participation mediated by digital technology. Participants in this study were recruited through purposive sampling of older adults 65 years or older who were interested in contributing to the development of Internet-based services in rural municipalities in Northern Sweden. Focus group interviews and qualitative content analysis were methods used to gather and analyze the data for this study.

This study is intended to expand the knowledge base on environmental factors surrounding social participation, more specifically those factors which older adults perceive can impact their current and desired social activities. The results from this study will be utilized in the planning of digital technology-mediated services in the community.