Talking about health can foster healthy and close family relationships, but it might also lead to uncomfortable experiences since health involves many sensitive topics. The situation is especially difficult for families with adult children living abroad while older adults live in the motherland.

In this study, 12 in-depth interviews were conducted with independent living older adults (n=4) and adult children (n=10). The paper demonstrates what and how they communicate on health information, and the difference between adult children and older adults’ attitudes towards selected health topics, then discusses the challenges that exist in the process.

Based on these findings, the researcher explored design opportunities through 3 co-creation sessions with 1 family to see how health data and information sharing can be better shaped.

Finally, this paper gives advice to communication platforms on offering services to support health communication in hopes of establishing a balanced and comfortable close relationship for these families.