Domesticating Social Alarm Systems in Nursing Homes: Qualitative Study of Differences in the Perspectives of Assistant Nurses

It is a matter of convenience: why welfare technologies have become domesticated in Swedish eldercare

BACKGROUND

The use of welfare technology is gaining ground in municipal eldercare and is increasingly being integrated into everyday routines. However, the meanings that eldercare personnel attach to welfare technology in the care of older recipients, and thus the domestication of welfare technology, remain largely underexplored. This study explores how eldercare personnel understand and ascribe meanings to welfare technologies in their daily work, with the aim of understanding their domestication.

METHODS

The empirical material comprised 181 photographs, each paired with corresponding text, from 61 participants across four municipalities in southern Sweden. The empirical material was thematically analysed, focusing on different categories of welfare technologies and their ascribed meanings. In our coding "convenience" and at times "inconvenience" were interpreted as recurrent patterns. Their repeated presence across various contexts and the meanings ascribed to different welfare technologies prompted deeper interpretive engagement, leading us to adopt it as a key theme. In the final step, the codes were synthesised through the lens of "convenience" to better understand the meanings participants attached to welfare technology in eldercare work.

RESULTS

The participants ascribed meanings to welfare technology that resonate with broader societal and cultural understandings of technological solutionism, while aligning with national policies promoting welfare technology as a means of supporting safety, activity and independence for older adults. Welfare technology was often understood as both convenient and an act of care. Our analysis uncovered different dimensions of "convenience", which we labelled as: "remote surveillance convenience", "logistics convenience", "communication convenience", "safety convenience", "comforting convenience" and "activation convenience". Yet, in some cases, welfare technology was also seen as a hindrance to care, being inconvenient due to its inflexibility, technical difficulties and the tendency to create duplicate tasks.

CONCLUSION

This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the domestication of welfare technology in eldercare. Our study found that eldercare personnel engage with and interpret welfare technologies by ascribing meanings related to perceived convenience - a concept not widely explored in this context. Welfare technologies were often seen as convenient substitutes for physical proximity and relational care, such as "remote surveillance convenience" through cameras and "comforting convenience" via robotic pets. However, convenience, while central to the participants' experiences, should not be understood as inherently "good" or positive but as part of the domestication process, shaped by socio-technical contexts and the political economy of eldercare, which prioritises effectiveness and efficiency. By shedding light on these dynamics, our study examines how the domestication of welfare technology is shaped by and reinforces broader discourses of technological solutionism, raising questions about its long-term impact on care practices.

Values of welfare technologies: a qualitative study of how employees in Swedish care for older adults understand and justify the use of new technology

BACKGROUND

In Swedish care for older adults, the use of welfare technology - for example, medicine-dispensing robots and GPS alarms - stimulates ongoing evaluations and negotiations. National policy documents, as well as previous research, indicate that these technologies are expected to improve the quality and efficiency of care but also involve potential or experienced challenges in providing high-quality care and the conditions for care workers - often portrayed as a conflict between political and caring organizational values. More research is thus needed on how the use of welfare technology is justified at central and municipal government levels as well as within care-providing organizations. This article aims to identify how the introduction and use of welfare technology is justified by employees and in policy documents pertaining to welfare technology in Swedish care for older people.

METHODS

Qualitative interview data involving 37 individuals were collected in municipalities in southern Sweden. The interviewees were managers, administrative staff, and licensed practical nurses working in home care services or special housing for older adults, offering care 24/7. Policy documents and agreements of significance for Swedish welfare technology policy were analysed. The analysis focused on values promoted as significant for the provision of care and related to the use of welfare technology. Justifications and values were analysed as belonging to different 'worlds of worth', as either shared or conflicting, and contextually situated.

RESULTS

The documents reflect values regarding, for instance, efficiency, independence, good working conditions, optimised use of human resources, and time to tend to relationships. The employees justified the use of welfare technologies with reference to optimisation and efficiency, activation and participation, dignity and freedom, social relationships, and good working conditions. These values represent three different worlds of worth - the industrial world, the civic world, and the domestic world - and are situated in employees' everyday work practices.

CONCLUSIONS

Values presented by employees and in policy documents are shared rather than conflicting. However, employees emphasise values associated with the domestic world, downplaying industrial values. We argue that politicians and civil servants should consider the situated judgements made by employees and develop more bottom-up strategies. This requires an acknowledgement of the existing values hierarchy, where values of optimisation and efficiency are held in high esteem but to accommodate higher values rather than as end goals.

Navigating Challenges and Opportunities in Community-Based Interventions for Promoting Active Aging: A Systematic Review of the Roles of Technology

Background and Objectives

Researchers from different fields are increasingly interested in incorporating technology into community-based interventions that promote active aging. Yet, there lacks a comprehensive understanding of technology roles, posing challenges for designers seeking to maximize the intended impacts of such interventions. This systematic review aims to fill the gap by examining existing community-based interventions that integrate digital technologies to promote active aging.

Research Design and Methods

Thirteen studies were screened, with a total of 14 interventions examined, following the PRISMA Guideline.

Results

The challenges in designing and operating community-based interventions, the roles of technology in the interventions, and the caveats of utilizing technology during the process were identified. The review emphasizes the importance of overcoming challenges in community-based interventions and leveraging technology to enhance the intended impacts.

Discussion and Implications

The findings underscore the need to understand technology's nuanced roles in community-based interventions for active aging. The article provides a starting point for accumulating knowledge and practice in utilizing technology to navigate the challenges and opportunities encountered in such interventions. It also sheds light on a notable gap: the lack of innovative and strategic approaches that harness digital interventions appropriately in community-based interventions. This emphasizes a crucial requirement for guidelines to assist designers, policymakers, and community staff in integrating technology appropriately into community-based interventions or implementing interventions that incorporate digital technologies at the community level.

Investigating the Integration and the Long-Term Use of Smart Speakers in Older Adults' Daily Practices: Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND

As smart speakers become more popular, there have been an increasing number of studies on how they may benefit older adults or how older adults perceive them. Despite the increasing ownership rates of smart speakers among older adults, studies that examine their integration and the long-term use in older adults' daily practices are scarce.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to uncover the integration of smart speakers into the daily practices of older adults over the long term, contributing to an in-depth understanding of maintained technology use among this demographic.

METHODS

To achieve these objectives, the study interviewed 20 older adults who had been using smart speakers for over 6 months. These semistructured interviews enabled participants to share their insights and experiences regarding the maintained use of smart speakers in the long term.

RESULTS

We identified 4 dimensions of the long-term use of smart speakers among older adults, including functional integration, spatial integration, cognitive integration, and semantic integration. For the functional integration of smart speakers, the study reported different types of use, including entertainment, information collection, medication reminders, companionship, environment modification, and emergency calls. For the spatial integration of smart speakers, the study showed older adults' agency in defining, changing, and reshaping daily practices through the spatial organization of smart speakers. For the cognitive integration of smart speakers, the findings showed the cognitive processes involved in adapting to and incorporating smart speakers into daily habits and routines. For the semantic integration of smart speakers, the findings revealed that older adults' enjoyable user experience and strong bonds with the device contributed to their acceptance of occasional functional errors. Finally, the study proposed several suggestions for designers and developers to better design smart speakers that promote maintainable use behaviors among older adults.

CONCLUSIONS

On the basis of the findings, this study highlighted the importance of understanding how older adults use smart speakers and the practices through which they integrate them into their daily routines. The findings suggest that smart speakers can provide significant benefits for older adults, including increased convenience and improved quality of life. However, to promote maintainable use behaviors, designers and developers should consider more about the technology use contexts and the specific needs and preferences of older adults when designing these devices.