Risk, safety and assistive technology in the context of ageing-in-place

When speaking about ageing in place, risk of accidents and subsequent injuries is an important part of individual worries, and risk avoidance or risk minimisation are main concerns of older people and their caregivers. Findings show that older people are more at risk of unintended injuries than younger people (i.e. falls, foodborne diseases). Moreover, individual concerns and associated worries to avoid specific risks may even lead to the decision to move to an institution. In this context it is important to consider that being “as safe as possible” with respect to objective parameters does not necessarily indicate the subjective feeling of being safe. The feeling of safety and the objective degree of safety are not linearly related in a way that increasing one factor will increase the other and conversely. Furthermore, some factors that can contribute to objectively enhance safety may even lead to greater feeling of unsafety.
Our review aims to investigate the relationship between objective and subjective safety in the context of ageing in place as well as the underlying mechanisms that help to explain the different links between objective and subjective safety. A further goal is offer a heuristic model presenting factors that may help to enhance older people’s consciousness of safety and thus quality of life. These include individual as well as social and macro-social factors. This paper focusses individual factors and will especially highlight the role of older people’s daily routines and their impact on technology acceptance.