Obtaining the views of Australian High-Functioning Community-Dwelling Older Adults on Assistive Technology in the home

Assistive Technology is regarded as a facilitator of better health, independence, and improved quality of life for older adults. This should be strong motivation for its use, but usage by older people is low. Modern Assistive Technology (AT) devices implemented using ICT and electronic technologies were first used to allow medical parameters and healthcare issues to be remotely monitored. Believing that all older adults are in deteriorating health and need help has led to a fixation on healthcare-related AT. Most older people self-assess that they are in good health for their age and aim to live for many more years. Our research focuses on these “high-functioning community-dwelling older adults”- the actual largest cohort of older adults, to seek their usage and views on AT in their homes. Older people not chronically unwell or with serious age-related health issues, have other concerns besides health for their life at home. But assistive technologies that facilitate these must be obtained at the individual’s own effort and cost. An innovative data gathering approach was used to obtain usage and views on AT in the home. The findings concurred with many of the issues and barriers identified by other research but also identified some not found in the reviewed literature. Using these findings some approaches to increasing the perception and usage of AT for the home are put forward.