The objective of this review was to obtain an overview of the technologies that have been explored with older adults with mild cognitive impairment and dementia (MCI/D), current knowledge on the ...usability and acceptability of such technologies, and how people with MCI/D and their family carers (FCs) were involved in these studies.
Primary studies published between 2007 and 2017 that explored the use of technologies for community-dwelling people with MCI/D were identified through five databases: MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, AMED, and CINAHL. Twenty-nine out of 359 papers met the criteria for eligibility. We used the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool for quality assessment.
A wide range of technologies was presented in the 29 studies, sorted into four domains: 1) safe walking indoors and outdoors; 2) safe living; 3) independent living; and 4) entertainment and social communication. The current state of knowledge regarding usability and acceptability reveals that even if researchers are aware of these concepts and intend to measure usability and acceptability, they seem difficult to assess. Terms such as "user friendliness" and "acceptance" were used frequently. User participation in the 29 studies was high. Persons with MCI/D, FCs, and staff/other older adults were involved in focus groups, workshops, and interviews as part of the preimplementation process.
Research regarding technologies to support people with MCI/D seems optimistic, and a wide range of technologies has been evaluated in homes with people with MCI/D and their FCs. A major finding was the importance of including people with MCI/D and their FCs in research, in order to learn about required design features to enhance usability and acceptability. Surprisingly, very few studies reported on the consequences of technology use with regard to quality of life, occupational performance, or human dignity.
The Active Ageing Framework has been adapted as a global strategy in ageing policies, practices and research over the last decade. Lifelong learning, however, has not been fully integrated into this ...discourse. Using survey data provided by 416 adults (aged 60 years and above) enrolled in non-formal general-interest courses in a public continuing education programme in Canada, this study examined the association between older adults’ duration of participation in the courses and their level of psychological wellbeing, while taking their age, gender, self-rated health and vulnerability level into consideration. An analytical framework was developed based on the literature of old-age vulnerabilities and the benefits of lifelong learning. Two logistic regression and trend analyses were conducted. The results indicate that older adults’ participation is independently and positively associated with their psychological wellbeing, even among those typically classified as ‘vulnerable’. This result provides additional evidence that suggests the continuous participation in non-formal lifelong learning may help sustain older adults’ psychological wellbeing. It provides older learners, even those who are most vulnerable, with a compensatory strategy to strengthen their reserve capacities, allowing them to be autonomous and fulfilled in their everyday life. The result of this study highlights the value of the strategic and unequivocal promotion of community-based non-formal lifelong learning opportunities for developing inclusive, equitable and caring active ageing societies.
The 'othering' of ageing is linked to an integrated process of ageism and hinders planning for the future for both individuals and practitioners delivering housing and health services. This paper ...aims to explore how creative interventions can help personalise, exchange knowledge and lead to system changes that tackle the 'othering' of ageing. The Designing Homes for Healthy Cognitive Ageing (DesHCA) project offers new and creative insights through an innovative methodology utilising 'serious games' with a co-produced tool called 'Our House' that provides insights into how to deliver housing for older people for ageing well in place. In a series of playtests with over 128 people throughout the UK, the findings show that serious games allow interaction, integration and understanding of how ageing affects people professionally and personally. The empirical evidence highlights that the game mechanisms allowed for a more in-depth and nuanced consideration of ageing in a safe and creative environment. These interactions and discussions enable individuals to personalise and project insights to combat the 'othering' of ageing. However, the solutions are restrained as overcoming the consequences of ageism is a societal challenge with multilayered solutions. The paper concludes that serious gaming encourages people to think differently about the concept of healthy ageing-both physically and cognitively-with the consideration of scalable and creative solutions to prepare for ageing in place.
As in many Western countries, eldercare services in Sweden have changed dramatically over recent decades. Population ageing, ageing‐in‐place policies, pressures to contain costs and organisational ...reforms linked to New Public Management are challenging public home care. There is, however, limited knowledge about how the job content and working conditions have changed in the Swedish home care across this period. This article aims to analyse and compare the work situation in the Swedish home care in 2005 and 2015. The analysis is based on the international Nordcare survey and draws on the subsample of respondents working in Swedish home care 2005 and 2015 (n = 371). The data were analysed with bivariate and multivariate methods. The results suggest that, overall, the work situation of home‐care workers was worse in 2015 compared to 2005. For example, those surveyed in 2015 reported meeting a larger number of clients per day, receiving less support from their supervisors, and having less time to discuss difficult situations with colleagues and considerably less scope to affect the planning of their daily work. Care workers in 2015 were also more mentally exhausted than those surveyed in 2005. In addition, the workers in 2015 experienced an accumulation of work‐related problems. Deteriorating working conditions could be related to cutbacks and organisational reforms, and evidence suggests that home‐care workers are paying a high price for ageing‐in‐place policies. Improvements of the work situation in home care are necessary not only to ensure the quality of care for older people, but also to ensure workers’ well‐being and to recruit and retain care workers, and thus, to meet the future needs for home care in an ageing society.
Background
Swedish social policy enables ageing in place with support from home‐based care services despite high age and/or declining health.
Aim
This study aims to describe the daily life ...experiences behind the decision to apply for a nursing home placement in older adults ageing in place.
Materials and Methods
A qualitative design was chosen, and 11 semi‐structured interviews were conducted and analysed using inductive qualitative content analysis.
Results
The participants described a feeling of dependence in which they had to ignore their personal privacy when receiving home‐based care. They reached a turning point when ageing in place was, for several reasons, no longer considered an acceptable option. This influenced their choice to apply to a nursing home where they expected that they could maintain control over their lives.
Discussion and Conclusion
The results indicate that when enhancing ageing in place it is important to enable older adults to receive support to maintain autonomy in daily activities and to have the opportunity to age in the right place.
In the context of growing population ageing, technologies aimed at helping people age in place play a fundamental role. Acceptance of the implementation of technological solutions can be defined as ...the intention to use a technology or the effective use of it. Approaches based on the technology acceptance model (TAM) have been shown to have good predictive power for pre-implementation attitudes towards new technologies.
To analyze the degree of acceptability of the use of new technologies for ageing in place and the factors associated with greater acceptance in people older than 64 years.
A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out. Sociodemographic, clinical and environmental variables, architectural barriers, social risk and quality of life, degree of autonomy, morbidity, and risk of falls were collected in a population sample over 64 years of age in a large region of western Spain. The degree of acceptance of the use of technologies was measured through a scale based on the TAM.
Of the 293 people included in the study, 36.2% exhibited a high acceptability of new technologies, 28.3% exhibited a medium acceptability, and 35.5% exhibited a low acceptability. Of all the factors, age, education level, and living alone were significantly associated with high acceptance in the adjusted analyses.
Younger age, a higher education level, and living alone are factors associated with a greater degree of acceptance of the use of technologies for ageing in place.
With ageing, people may experience loss of function which may be compensated for by using technology. This review aims to examine the range and extent of personal voice assistants used for older ...adults living in the community, their technology readiness level, associated outcomes, and the strength of evidence.
This study complies with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist. The CINAHL, EMBASE, IEEE Xplore, MEDLINE, APA PsycInfo, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were used to identify studies that explored the use of personal voice assistant technology with older adults living in the community.
The search yielded 499 studies, 22 of which were included for final analysis. Consumer technologies (e.g., Amazon Alexa) were evaluated in 18 studies, while four studies evaluated novel technologies. Most of the studies exploring the use of personal voice assistants with older adults evaluated technology usability and acceptance. Personal voice assistants were most commonly used by older adults for setting up reminders, searching for information, and checking the weather. None of the included studies evaluated the effectiveness of the technologies' ability to improve the management of health conditions or to facilitate the functional capacity of older adults.
More research is needed to determine the possible impact of using personal voice assistants for older adults living in the community.
IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION
The TRL for personal voice assistants is high.
Personal voice assistants are currently being used by older adults for a range of activities including setting up reminders, searching for information, and checking the weather.
Whether personal voice assistants can support older adults' ability to age in place is still unknown.
The use of personal voice assistants in older adults is ripe for future enquiry and intervention-based research.
The purpose is to give an overview of the extent, range and nature of existing definitions of the concept ‘ageing in place’. Providing such an overview may be helpful, for policy makers, researchers, ...communities and service providers, to make sense of the versatility and uses of the concept, and allow the improvement and increase the success of efforts to contribute to the quality of life of older people. The overview was created using Arksey and O'Malley's scoping review methodology. Out of 3,692 retrieved articles, 34 met the inclusion criteria. These studies concentrate on the following five key themes concerning ‘ageing in place’: ‘ageing in place’ in relation to place, to social networks, to support, to technology and to personal characteristics. Each of these key themes consists of other aspects, like physical place and attachment to place for the keyword place. This study concludes that the concept ‘ageing in place’ is broad and can be viewed from different (i.e. five) key themes. A more thorough understanding of ‘ageing in place’ provides knowledge about the existing key themes and aspects. These findings might provide practical support for professionals and governments when they develop their policies about ‘ageing in place’ integrally and to develop fit policies.
Abstract
Drawing on conceptual and empirical work in geographies of ageing and environmental gerontology, this study's aim is to explore the generation and maintenance of enabling places from the ...perspective of older community dwellers in the context of COVID‐19. Findings are drawn from a qualitative thematic analysis of written submissions (
n
= 17), narrative interviews (
n
= 44) and go‐along interviews (
n
= 5) with people ageing‐in‐place in Irish communities during the pandemic. The mean age of participants was 74.9 (SD = 7; range 65–96), 53% were female, 46% lived alone, and 86% lived in areas with high urban influence. Our results indicate that the COVID‐19 public health restrictions curtailed participants' usual activities and influenced how they related to their homes, and a variety of public spaces where they had previously pursued valued activities. Transitions in their everyday geographies led to a wide array of affective and embodied experiences, and participants described diverse material and social emplaced‐resources as enabling or hindering their health and well‐being during COVID‐19. Our core findings are summarised across three themes: (1) somewhere old, relates to emplacement in familiar places and the role of familiarity with place resources; (2) somewhere new, comprises the emergence of digital spaces and possible pathways to build place insideness; and (3) somewhere green, describes the negotiation and (re)turn to natural and outdoor environments during the pandemic. Results from this study contribute to identify the pathways through which enabling places for diverse older people may be generated and/or maintained, and provide evidence to support the development of enabling environments during times of social upheaval and beyond.
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