Abstract
BackgroundThe number of older people with unmet care and support needs is increasing substantially due to the challenges facing the formal and informal care systems. Emerging technological developments have the potential to address some of the care and support challenges of older people. However, limited work has been done to identify emerging technological developments with the potential to meet the care and support needs of the aging population.ObjectiveThis review aimed to gain an overview of emerging technologies with potential care and support applications for older people, particularly for those living at home.MethodsA scoping gray literature review was carried out by using the databases of 13 key organizations, hand searching reference lists of included documents, using funding data, and consulting technology experts. A narrative synthesis approach was used to analyze and summarize the findings of the literature review.ResultsA total of 39 documents were included in the final analysis. From the analysis, 8 emerging technologies were identified that could potentially be used to meet older people’s needs in various care and support domains. These emerging technologies were (1) assistive autonomous robots; (2) self-driving vehicles; (3) artificial intelligence–enabled health smart apps and wearables; (4) new drug release mechanisms; (5) portable diagnostics; (6) voice-activated devices; (7) virtual, augmented, and mixed reality; and (8) intelligent homes. These emerging technologies were at different levels of development, with some being trialed for care applications, whereas others being in the early phases of development. However, only a few documents mentioned including older people during the process of designing and developing these technologies.ConclusionsThis review has identified key emerging technologies with the potential to contribute to the support and care needs of older people. However, to increase the adoption of these technologies by older people, there is a need to involve them and other stakeholders, such as formal and informal carers, in the process of designing and developing these technologies.
Highlights
Many older people are likely to require care and support in their later lives due to living with limiting long-term conditions [1,2].These include support with activities related to mobility, daily living, and social life [2]
8 emerging technologies were identified that could potentially be used to meet older people’s needs in various care and support domains. These emerging technologies were (1) assistive autonomous robots; (2) self-driving vehicles; (3) artificial intelligence–enabled health smart apps and wearables; (4) new drug release mechanisms; (5) portable diagnostics; (6) voice-activated devices; (7) virtual, augmented, and mixed reality; and (8) intelligent homes. These emerging technologies were at different levels of development, with some being trialed for care applications, whereas others being in the early phases of development
This review provided an overview of emerging technologies with potential care and support applications for older people
Summary
Background Many older people are likely to require care and support in their later lives due to living with limiting long-term conditions [1,2].These include support with activities related to mobility, daily living, and social life [2]. Background Many older people are likely to require care and support in their later lives due to living with limiting long-term conditions [1,2]. 1 (page number not for citation purposes) and support prefer to continue living in their own homes, which is a priority to several local authorities in the United Kingdom [4]. Many of those are left with unmet needs due to the challenges facing the formal and informal care systems in the United Kingdom, such as limited funding to health and social care and physical and mental burden on family carers [5,6,7]. Limited work has been done to identify emerging technological developments with the potential to meet the care and support needs of the aging population
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