The Reasons of Older people for the Use or Non-use of Assistive Technologies: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies

The baby boomer generation is aging and the proportion of older people in the population is increasing. While people age, functional, cognitive, and physical problems increase. Assistive technology (AT) can help to overcome some activity limitations relevant to aging. Although ATs have potential benefits (e.g., to reduce the burden of caregivers, to increase independence), their usage rate is still low. Whereas several reviews of quantitative studies on factors of ATs use already exist, a systematic review of qualitative research about AT use is still missing. The aim of the current review is to provide more differentiated answers about what makes some older people use ATs while others not.
Based on systematic literature searches in PsycINFO, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar databases 18 relevant papers were identified according to our selection criteria. These studies were based on to self-reported reasons of older people for using or not-using diverse types of ATs designed for many different activities.
We classified the key reasons as referring to three aspects: attributes of “potential technology users”, “context”, and “technology”. Perceived usefulness and attitudes towards use were the most common “personal” reasons and social impact by significant others was the most common “contextual” reason, and technology design was the most common “technological” reason influencing use or non-use of ATs. We discussed the identified reasons in relation to the major models of developmental self-regulation and action-theoretical approaches to development in age. Based on the current review, we generated methodological and theoretical recommendations for future research and for practical applications.