Perceived Needs for Assistive Technologies in older adults and their caregivers

There is a growing interest for Assistive Technologies (AT) for aging in place. However, acceptance and adoption of AT in older adults remain problematic. This study investigates the perceived AT needs for three domains (everyday activities, safety and social participation) among 50 community-dwelling older adults and their caregivers. Our results indicate that the perceived AT needs are higher in caregivers than old adults, and both safety and social linking are need domains more critical than that of everyday activities. Importantly, for the first time, we demonstrate that older adults formulate their AT needs irrespective of their cognitive or physical losses while caregivers formulate AT needs according to losses exhibited by an older adult. Precisely, AT needs expressed by caregivers are related to cognitive decline for the domain of everyday activities and to physical decline for the domains of safety and social linking. Overall, this reveals the importance of an peer-evaluation by caregivers or family when evaluating AT need; moreover, we could suggest educational programs on aging-related limitations for older participants and thus enhancing the AT acceptance and adoption.