Promoting Older Adults’ Independent Living with Assistive Technology: Emotional Requirements, Technostress and Formal Caregivers Perspective

Assistive technology has the potential to promote the independent living of older adults. To ensure adoption, the user experience and investigation of user needs should be meticulously assessed. One factor that can influence acceptance and adoption of innovative technology is the emotional aspect. Despite this understanding, the examination of how emotions and other demographic factors play a role technology perception are not thoroughly examined. This study evaluated emotional requirements and stress toward technology in a monitoring and socialization service after 6 months of use by 64 older adults. The perspective of 25 formal caregivers was also considered. Monitoring service showed higher 'stay informed' requirement but similar emotional aspects compared to socialization. Overall, although not significantly, the monitoring scenario scored higher in the emotional requirements and elicited lower stress towards technology, aligning with formal caregiver’s perception of its technical superiority. Future guidelines for long-term studies should consider the emotions and needs of the OA and the system’s technical reliability to maximize the efficacy.