Technology Mediated Caregiving For Older Adults Aging in Place

The caregiving environment for an older adult aging in place includes a network of caregivers working with the older adult to support their needs and maintain independence. As older adults experience cognitive and functional changes, their caregiving network expands to include spouses or siblings (who are often older adults themselves), children, friends, neighbors and community members—each bringing unique values, expectations, and goals. In this network of care, technology-enabled support offers the potential to mediate care responsibilities, such as coordinating activities and assisting with everyday tasks. However, designing these systems requires addressing value tensions among caregivers, cultural norms around aging, participatory research practices and balancing autonomy with safety concerns for older adults in later life. This workshop brings together researchers and practitioners to discuss (1) opportunities and challenges for designing technological systems for caregiving for older adults; (2) longitudinal interactions with these systems as older adults progress through stages of functional and cognitive changes; (3) potential for such systems to support caregivers while centering older adults’ privacy and autonomy needs; and (4) the influence of cultural norms on caregiving and technology use.