Luijkx Katrien, Peek Sebastiaan, Wouters Eveline
Tilburg University, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Tranzo, P.O. Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands.
Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Institute of Allied Health Professions, Chair of Health Innovations and Technology, and Tilburg University, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Department of Tranzo, Dominee Theodor Fliednerstraat 2, 5631 BN Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2015 Dec 5;12(12):15470-85. doi: 10.3390/ijerph121214999.
Despite its potential, the acceptance of technology to support the ability to live independently in one's own home, also called aging in place, is not optimal. Family members may play a key role in technology acceptance by older adults; however, it is not well understood why and how they exert influence. Based on open interviews with 53 community-dwelling older adults, this paper describes the influence of family members, including spouses, on the use of various types of consumer electronics by older adults as was reported by themselves. Such a broad focus enables understanding the use of technology as was reported by older adults, instead of its intended use. Our study reveals that the influence of each family member has its own characteristics. The influence of technology acceptance is a natural and coincidental part of the interaction with spouses and grandchildren in which entertainment and pleasure are prominent. This is also partly true for the influence of children, but their influence also is intentional and driven by concerns. Our study indicates the importance of including all family members when implementing technology in the lives of older adults. Besides information for children about the use(fullness) of devices, it is worthwhile to give grandchildren an important role, because older adults easily adopt their enthusiasm and it might eventually lighten the burden on children.
尽管技术具有潜力，但支持人们在自己家中独立生活（即原地养老）的技术接受度并不理想。家庭成员在老年人对技术的接受方面可能发挥关键作用；然而，他们为何以及如何施加影响尚不清楚。基于对53位居家社区老年人的开放式访谈，本文描述了包括配偶在内的家庭成员对老年人使用各类消费电子产品的影响，这些影响是老年人自己报告的。如此广泛的关注点有助于理解老年人所报告的技术使用情况，而非其预期用途。我们的研究表明，每个家庭成员的影响都有其自身特点。技术接受方面的影响是与配偶和孙辈互动中自然且偶然的一部分，其中娱乐和愉悦较为突出。孩子的影响在一定程度上也是如此，但他们的影响也是出于关心且是有意的。我们的研究表明，在老年人生活中引入技术时纳入所有家庭成员很重要。除了向孩子提供有关设备使用（完备性）的信息外，让孙辈发挥重要作用也很值得，因为老年人很容易受到他们热情的感染，这最终可能减轻孩子的负担。
