COVID-19 is exacerbating isolation issues faced by older adults, which may lead to increased risk for depression and other mental health issues. Social robots are being explored for their potential to alleviate these challenges through conversational therapy, companionship, and connectedness regardless of where older adults chose to age in place—from home to long-term care facilities. This is a discussion piece with the objective of raising awareness to the topic of social isolation within older adults and current limitations in the field of social robotics. We discuss the state of the art in social robotics for aging in place and bring attention to remaining challenges for addressing isolation and mental health especially during and after COVID-19. This paper provides a discussion on critical differences between environments where older individuals age, and how designs should account for these variations. Lastly, this paper highlights the physical and mental health issues of caregivers and provides a discussion of challenges that remain toward using social robotics to assist those who take care of the aging population.
more »
« less
Aging in Smart Environments for Independence
This paper highlights current technological limitations and offers recommendations for scientists and engineers when designing devices to support aging in place. Existing technology for older adults to support independent living is examined as well as the implications of contextual factors, namely, location, on how people live and age based on the location in which they reside. This is the first review to investigate how challenges of aging change relative to location of residence and, subsequently, how such variation may inform technological solutions. To date, few devices consider the environment in which older individuals age. Places examined include aging: at home; assisted living facilities; nursing homes; and family housing. Challenges found in common across these locations were financial strain and isolation. In addition, each setting was found to have its own unique hurdles. Understanding these barriers is essential to developing technology that enables older adults to successfully age in place.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1828010
- PAR ID:
- 10277354
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- 2020 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS)
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 115 to 123
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Researchers have designed technologies for and with older adults to help them age in place, but there is an opportunity to support older adults in creating customized smart devices for themselves through electronic toolkits. We developed a plan for iterating on Craftec - one of the first electronic toolkits designed for older adults - informed by the results of a participatory design workshop and user evaluation. We focused on supporting older adults to create exemplar artifacts, such as medication adherence systems. We contribute the exemplars and the current plan for components of the Craftec system as a way to support older adults to design technology for themselves.more » « less
-
Abstract As Americans live longer, a dynamic opportunity has arisen to provide enhanced resources to sustain their well-being. Cost-conscious, convenient in-home sensing will assist with chronic disease management, and become part of a long-term plan to support our aging population and shrinking healthcare workforce. The purpose of this study was to obtain input from older adults about (i) their comfort level and willingness to adopt different sensor technologies, and (ii) opinions on data sharing, security, and privacy to guide our sensor development. Over 4 different survey timeframes (2018-2022), adults aged 60 and older (N=112) completed our survey either in-person (n=77) or via a REDCap online survey (n=35) (53% female; 30% age >80; 78% college graduates; 19% living alone). Though there were significant differences (p< 0.05) in demographics based upon recruitment source, no differences in attitudes towards sensor use were found by age, gender, education, or marital status. Opinions and preferences for sensor type/number/install location, and data sharing preferences significantly differed (p< 0.05) by home living arrangements (independent, 55+ or continuous care communities). Similar to national surveys, changes in technology use were observed pre- versus post COVID. Respondents living in 55+ and continuous-care housing were more comfortable with having sensors installed in their homes than those in community dwelling independent housing. This study highlights the need to include end users throughout the lifecycle of product development and provides insights into preferences by older adults for sensor use and data sharing.more » « less
-
null (Ed.)Technology has the opportunity to assist older adults as they age in place, coordinate caregiving resources, and meet unmet needs through access to resources. Currently, older adults use consumer technologies to support everyday life, however these technologies are not always accessible or as useful as they can be. Indeed, industry has attempted to create smart home technologies (e.g., Microsoft HomeOS, Intel CareNet) with older adults as a target user group, however these solutions are oftenmore focused on the technical aspects and are short lived. In this paper, we advocate for older adults being involved in the design process - from initial ideation to product development to deployment. We encourage federally funded researchers and industry to create compensated, diverse older adult advisory boards to address stereotypes about aging while ensuring their needs are considered. We envision artificial intelligence (AI) systems that augment resources instead of replacing them - especially in under-resourced communities. Older adults rely on their caregiver networks and community organizations for social, emotional, and physical support; thus, AI should be used to coordinate resources better and lower the burden of connecting with these resources. Although sociotechnical smart systems can help identify needs of older adults, the lack of affordable research infrastructure and translation of findings into consumer technology perpetuates inequities in designing for diverse older adults. In addition, there is a disconnect between the creation of smart sensing systems and creating understandable, actionable data for older adults and caregivers to utilize. We ultimately advocate for a well-coordinated research effort across the United States that connects older adults, caregivers, community organizations, and researchers together to catalyze innovative and practical research for all stakeholders.more » « less
-
Research on smart home monitoring for older adults has predominantly focused on systems whose data and alerts are directed towards family members, caregivers, or healthcare providers. Older adults have expressed interest in engaging with these systems by seeing and using their data, but they are often limited to a passive role as subjects of monitoring. This paper presents qualitative results of a longitudinal smart home project with older adults living independently in the community. Based on interviews conducted throughout the 2.5-year study with 12 participants, we report on their lived experiences of having the monitoring system in their homes and on how they reflected on the data collected by the system. The results show how participants were able to extract meaningful information from the monitoring data without finding the system invasive or intrusive. Specifically, older adults exhibited interest in data that they found indicative of living an active lifestyle, such as time spent outside the home. Drawing from critical literature on active aging, we discuss implications for incorporating peer comparisons to support reflection on personal health data without reinforcing a deficit narrative of aging.more » « less
An official website of the United States government

