Emerging technologies and older people: an exploration of older people’s care and support needs and potential emerging technological solutions

Many older people are living with unmet care and support needs because of the challenges facing the health and social care system in the UK. Recently, several digital technologies have emerged that could potentially address these needs and contribute to closing the gap in care. However, limited work has been done to synthesize knowledge about these emerging technologies and their potential to meet older people’s care and support needs, especially for those living at home. Therefore, the overall aim of this thesis was to explore the potential of emerging technologies to meet the care and support needs of older people living at home in the UK.

Four studies were conducted in two phases. Phase 1 aimed to provide an in-depth analysis of the care and support needs of older people living at home in the UK. It involved conducting a scoping review and qualitative interviews with older people with care and support needs. These studies revealed that older people living at home face challenges related to five key domains: mobility, self-care, domestic life, social life and relationships, psychological support and access to healthcare. Phase 2 aimed to provide an in-depth analysis of emerging technologies that could meet older people’s needs in these domains. It involved conducting a scoping grey literature review and a Delphi survey with health and social care technology experts. The results highlighted that several emerging technologies have potential to support older people in these domains, including IoT enabled homes, voice activated devices, assistive autonomous robots and AI-enabled apps. However, the results revealed that the short-term potential of these technologies seems to lie in supporting simple care related tasks.
The thesis highlights and discusses the key issues that need to be addressed to see emerging technologies contribute more substantially to the care and support of older people.