Better home care and home care technologies are no longer requested solely by nonimmigrant older adults but also by members of the fast-growing older adult immigrant population. However, limited attention has been given to this issue, or to the use of technology in meeting the needs of aging populations. The objective of this review is to map existing knowledge of older adult immigrants' use of information and communication technologies for home care service published in scientific literature from 2014 to 2020. Twelve studies met the established eligibility criteria in a systematic literature search. The results showed older adult immigrants faced similar barriers, which were independent of their ethnic backgrounds but related to their backgrounds as immigrants including lower socioeconomic status, low language proficiency, and comparatively lower levels of social inclusion. Technology use could be facilitated if older adult immigrants received culturally-tailored products and support from family members and from society. The results imply that the included studies do not address or integrate cultural preferences in the development of information and communication technology for home care services. Caregivers might provide an opportunity to bridge gaps between older immigrants' cultural preferences and technology design. This specific research field would also benefit from greater interest in the development of novel methodologies.

Introduction: This article contributes to the discussion on digital transformation and welfare technology in municipal eldercare. The aim of welfare technology solutions is to exceed the current welfare system and to meet the challenges of an ageing population through technological innovations and applications that help people to better cope with health issues and strengthen their participation, activity and independence regarding their own healthcare. Methods: First, this article outlines a number of different perspectives on technological and social change. Against this backdrop, this article portrays the challenges faced by Swedish municipal eldercare organizations due to the moving targets of digital transformation and the development of welfare technologies. Conclusion: In this context, eldercare organizations are at risk of becoming victims of the fast pace at which technology develops and the rhetoric of technological determinism; they may try to pursue the latest technological innovation at the expense of their stakeholders’ needs. The implementation and deployment of welfare technology become a real-world social experiment. Without proper tools for evaluation, welfare technology might be implemented and deployed as an end in itself, instead of as means for better ageing or improved eldercare. This article concludes by framing a set of questions to help increase the understanding of welfare technology implementation and deployment in order to mitigate risks and improve outcomes.IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION Analysis of different perspectives regarding technological and social change. Identification of the challenges faced by municipal eldercare organizations due to digital transformation. Presentation of evaluation questions to increase the understanding of welfare technology implementation and deployment in order to mitigate risks and improve outcomes.

Background:Telemedicine innovations are rarely adopted into routine health care, the reasons for which are not well understood. Teleguidance, a promising service for remote surgical guidance during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) was due to be scaled up, but there were concerns that user attitudes might influence adoption.

Objective:Our objective was to gain a deeper understanding of ERCP practitioners’ attitudes toward teleguidance. These findings could inform the implementation process and future evaluations.

Methods:We conducted semistructured interviews with ERCP staff about challenges during work and beliefs about teleguidance. Theoretical constructs from the technology acceptance model (TAM) guided the thematic analysis. Our findings became input to a 16-item questionnaire, investigating surgeons’ beliefs about teleguidance’s contribution to performance and factors that might interact with implementation.

Results:Results from 20 interviews with ERCP staff from 5 hospitals were used to adapt a TAM questionnaire, exchanging the standard “Ease of Use” items for “Compatibility and Implementation Climate.” In total, 23 ERCP specialists from 15 ERCP clinics responded to the questionnaire: 9 novices (<500 ERCP procedures) and 14 experts (>500 ERCP procedures). The average agreement ratings for usefulness items were 64% (~9/14) among experts and 75% (~7/9) among novices. The average agreement ratings for compatibility items were somewhat lower (experts 64% [~9/14], novices 69% [~6/9]). The averages have been calculated from the sum of several items and therefore, they only approximate the actual values. While 11 of the 14 experts (79%) and 8 of the 9 novices (89%) agreed that teleguidance could improve overall quality and patient safety during ERCP procedures, only 8 of the 14 experts (57%) and 6 of the 9 novices (67%) agreed that teleguidance would not create new patient safety risks. Only 5 of the 14 experts (36%) and 3 of the 9 novices (33%) were convinced that video and image transmission would function well. Similarly, only 6 of the 14 experts (43%) and 6 of the 9 novices (67%) agreed that administration would work smoothly. There were no statistically significant differences between the experts and novices on any of the 16 items (P<.05).

Conclusions:Both novices and experts in ERCP procedures had concerns that teleguidance might disrupt existing work practices. However, novices were generally more positive toward teleguidance than experts, especially with regard to the possibility of developing technical skills and work practices. While newly trained specialists were the main target for teleguidance, the experts were also intended users. As experts are more likely to be key decision makers, their attitudes may have a greater relative impact on adoption. We present suggestions to address these concerns. We conclude that using the TAM as a conceptual framework can support user-centered inquiry into telemedicine design and implementation by connecting qualitative findings to well-known analytical themes.

This extended abstract is a report on older people’s perception of interactive robots in health- and elderly care. A series of focus groups was conducted. In total 31 older people participated. The majority of the participants viewed interactive robots in health- and elderly care as an asset but they also voiced concerns regarding reliability, practical handling, costs and fear of mechanical care.

Introduction: Swedish municipalities face a number of daunting challenges; an aging population, the public's increased demands and expectations on municipality services, and a strained economy to mention some. Welfare technology, a Scandinavian concept launched to promote digitalization, is seen as one solution to meet these challenges. Objective: Despite these promises, few welfare technology applications are offered by local Swedish municipalities and care organizations. Numerous studies have shown that Swedish municipalities have a great interest in welfare technologies. Methods: In this article, we draw on empirical research in one Swedish municipality. Through two case studies it is illustrated how technological change and municipality employment of welfare technologies are employed. Results: These case studies show how core values of care are being lost in the quest for digitalization due to the lack of organizational skills and knowledge in transforming the relationship of caregiving and care-receiving through the use of digital technology. Conclusions: Digitalization and welfare technologies deployed ought to represent and support the core values of caregiving and to receive care. Thus, digital transformation most likely will transform conditions for care receivers and working conditions for care workers. New work processes will evolve, which in turn produce new meanings of home help service work and caregiving.

Purpose: An ageing population presents a challenge for municipal eldercare in Sweden due to difficulties recruiting staff and there being a strained economy. A strategy involving welfare technology is presented as one such solution. An important group to carry out this strategy involves those who work with welfare technology in municipal eldercare. In this paper we describe their perception of welfare technology, and the challenges and opportunities they perceive in utilizing it. Methods: A self-administered online questionnaire was distributed to all Swedish municipalities and answered by 393 respondents. Analyses show that the respondents were representative of the different professions who work with welfare technology within municipal eldercare. Results: Welfare technology was perceived as being more reliable and safer than humans with regards to supervisions and reminders. The respondents acknowledged factors that slowed down the implementation of welfare technology in municipal eldercare organizations, such as resistance to change, lack of finances, lack of supporting evidence, lack of infrastructure, high staff turnover, difficulties with procurement and uncertainties about responsibility and laws. Conclusions: We found that the people who work with and make decisions about welfare technology in municipal eldercare organizations were generally very positive about the deployment and use of such technology, but there appear to be problems within municipal eldercare organizations to realize this vision. The lack of structured implementation processes and coherent evaluation models indicates inequality of the access to welfare technology and, as a result, even though Swedish eldercare is publicly funded, the availability of welfare technologies and their usage differ between municipalities.

Background: Welfare technology is a concept that appears as one of the answers to how to meet the need for care in growing older populations. Although technology has been used for decades in eldercare, it is under-problematized and there is a lack of knowledge about how effective it really is.

Objectives: This paper reviews the usage of technologies in eldercare and describes determinants of successful implementation of technologies in eldercare. The review aims to summarize and critically evaluate important aspects of technology usage in eldercare.

Method: A narrative review method was selected for analysis of the literature. Through applying a narrative perspective to review the literature on technologies in eldercare, a broad understanding is gained of the contextual factors and main key success factors of implementing technologies in eldercare.

Result: The review yield 71 publications related to technologies in eldercare. Seven themes were identified: (1) curriculum of technologies in eldercare; (2) on technologies; (3) evaluation models; (4) key success factors; (5) perception – care personnel; (6) perception – older users; and (7) controversies and dilemmas

Discussion and Implications: The result of the review shows that technologies in eldercare are promoted to enable more seamless, efficient, patient-centered and safe care, however technologies might be contributing to making eldercare more fragmented, time-consuming, technology-centered and risky. Technologies in eldercare are only as successful and suitable as organizational culture, infrastructure and management practice allow them to be.