Adoption Intention and Factors Influencing the Use of Gerontechnology in Chinese Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Mixed-Methods Study

Gerontechnology for better elderly care and life quality: a systematic literature review

Gerontechnology as multidisciplinary research has expanded in recent years due to its significant role in ensuring better care and improved quality of life for older adults and their caregivers. With a substantial increase in studies on reasons behind less inclination of older individuals to accept gerontechnology, barriers to its non-acceptance appear to be persistent. In addition, there is a dearth of research on the adoption of gerontechnology from the perspectives of social caregivers, given that caregivers bear a substantial burden in the form of chronic stress, which adversely affects their health and that of older people. Therefore, the aim of this study is to present a holistic perspective of older adults and their caregivers by systematically reviewing literature on gerontechnology acceptance. Adopting the preferred reported items for systematic and meta-analysis (PRISMA) framework, publications specifically on gerontechnology from 2002 to 2022 in Scopus, Web of Science and PubMed, that focused on older people (50 years and above) and caregivers (informal and formal) were reviewed. We critically evaluated 25 publications and synthesised them thematically. The results highlight that gerontechnology acceptance by older adults and their social caregivers is highly contingent on certain personal, physical, socio-cultural and technological indicators. However, this paper concludes that a generalised policy approach for gerontechnology and a better quality of life may be ineffective, considering that older adults and social caregivers constitute two heterogeneous groups.

Use and perception of gerontechnology: differences in a group of Spanish older adults

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the profile of use of gerontechnology in Spanish older adults considering their age group (60–70; 71–80 and over 80 years) and to discern whether groups of subjects with similar characteristics can be established to ascertain which factors are behind the profile of frequent gerontechnology use.

Design/methodology/approach

A quantitative study is presented to understand the profile of use of gerontechnology in Spanish older adults. The sample comprised 497 participants (aged between 60 and 94 years).

Findings

The results show that, even though most participants consider technology to be useful in their daily lives, there is still a lack of knowledge on how to use it, especially among older subjects. This highlights the importance of promoting technological cocreation initiatives such as senior living labs.

Research limitations/implications

Other researchers are encouraged to include the voices of older adults using gerontechnology in further studies.

Practical implications

If we want to increase the acceptance of technology by older adults, we must first let them take part in the design of the technologies they will use.

Social implications

This research provides promising data that should merit attention to contribute to the well-being and quality of life of older adults in a society where currently technology is a key part in every sphere of our daily life.

Originality/value

The value of this research lies in the implications of “aging in place” studies today.