Bridging the gap between technology and older adults: insights from a collaborative workshop on R&D methodologies for ambient assisted living solutions

摘要

In spite of promising contributions of ambient assisted living (AAL) solutions for independent ageing, a gap between technologies and their uptake by users has been reported. A suboptimal user-centred approach and limited user integration in the innovation process were advanced as influencing factors. This paper presents the results from a collaborative workshop conducted at the AAL Forum 2017 with multiple stakeholders (n = 24). Data were collected on current practices, methods, challenges and solutions regarding user integration in AAL projects, and a content analysis was carried out. A moderate degree of user integration emerged as the most common practice and users are mostly included in the research and development process providing requirements and testing the solutions, holding minor participation in other innovation phases. Challenges for user integration were associated with users' health/autonomy status and attitudes towards technology, as well as with obstacles in matching solutions with users' requirements. The results suggest that a higher degree of user integration may still be some way distant in AAL projects. Researchers/developers face considerable challenges in user integration, while possessing a limited portfolio of solutions to address them. Insights from this paper can be exploited to design guidelines for user integration in AAL projects.