More than just a means to an end: technology also changes life at an advanced age. The aim of the new project is to find out how and in which areas technical developments can be sensibly applied.
Technological assistance for older adults and ambient assisted living embraces to the use of information and communication technologies in the fields of health, mobility, communication, work and care, while paying particular attention to the needs of older adults. Thereby services and technologies should maintain and improve individual well-being, health, autonomy, and safety of older adults, as well as their social integration. On the one hand, this should facilitate to grow old in a self-determined manner; on the other hand, technological aids that affect the support and care for older adults are made accessible to those who help older adults – this is embraces as assisted work.
This project explores the meaning of technologies in a complex and diverse process of aging taking the role of the immediate social, spatial and urban environments in consideration. In which areas of daily life are supporting technologies usefully applicable, and under which conditions is this so? Which target groups of older adults can be distinguished - depending on life circumstances and attitudes? A major aim is to find out more about technology in the context of the everyday life of older adults who live in the urban area of Vienna. In the long term, this knowledge should contribute to reconciling an often machine-oriented developer's language with users’ requirements, perceived needs and perspectives of older adults in the urban environment.
Background: European research policy promotes active assisted living (AAL) to alleviate costs and reach new markets. The main argument for massive investments in AAL is its potential to raise older adults’ Quality of Life and enhance their freedom, autonomy, mobility, social integration, and communication. However, AAL is less widely spread in older adults’ households than expected. Research Aim: We investigate how the variable “technology acceptance” is connected to socio-economic-, social, health, “personal attitude towards ageing”, and “Quality of life” variables. Method: We conducted a study in Vienna between 2018 and 2020, questioning 245 older adults (M = 74, SD = 6.654) living in private homes. We calculated multivariate models regressing technology acceptance on the various exploratory and confounding variables. Results: Experiencing an event that made the person perceive their age differently changed the attitude towards using an assistive technological system. Participants perceived technology that is directly associated with another human being (e.g., the use of technology to communicate with a physician) more positively. Conclusion: Older adults’ attitudes towards technology may change throughout their lives. Using major events in life as potential entry points for technology requires awareness to avoid reducing the lives of older adults to these events. Secondly, a certain human preference for “human technology” may facilitate abuse if technology is given a white coat, two eyes, a nose, and a mouth that may falsely be associated with a natural person. This aspect raises the ethical issue of accurate information as a significant precondition for informed consent.
Bechtold, U. (Speaker)
Bechtold, U. (Speaker)
Belviso, C. (Contributor), Hasenauer, R. (Contributor) & Bechtold, U. ((Co-)Author)
Bechtold, U. (Speaker)
