In 2000, Japan introduced a mandatory long-term care insurance program to facilitate aging-in-place of older care recipients; there has been a great demand for assistive technologies such as AI (artificial intelligence) and robots in care settings to reduce the burden of caregivers and long-term care costs in society. This study examined the relationship between the trust in social security and acceptance of assistive technology for ADL help and discussed the challenges in introducing technology in a well-developed social security system. An online survey was conducted in August 2020 among community-dwelling individuals aged between 40 and 89 across Japan to find out their acceptance of help provided via AI or robotics technology in five dimensions of ADL. In addition, a 5-point Likert scale was used to assess the trust in social security.A total of 4,047 respondents were analyzed in this study. The respondents’ mean age was 60.6 (SD=11.3), and 53.2% of them were female. Of those, 13.2% preferred help from humans in ADL, while for 86.8%, the use of some assistive technology was acceptable. Logistic regression revealed that the female and younger respondents and those who had better health and had completed higher education were more likely to accept AI or robotics technology in all/some ADL if they needed assistance; those with higher trust in social security, however, were less likely to accept technology (OR=.894; p=.011).The challenges in introducing assistive technology under a well-developed social security system will be discussed.

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Background Subjective age (SA) (i.e., felt age) has been found to be a biopsychosocial marker of aging. This study examined the associations between SA and frequency of technology usage of older adults. Methods Data were collected via an online survey conducted in 2020. The study analyzed participants aged 65 to 89 (M = 71.9, SD = 3.91) years resided in Japan (N = 1855, 54.3% women). SA was indexed by asking participants to specify in years how old they felt. Proportional discrepancy scores (PDS) ((SA - chronological age) / chronological age) were calculated to indicate younger or older SAs and used as an independent variable. Participants were asked about the frequency of computer, smartphone, flip phone, and SNS use. Results Nearly 90% reported using computers for more than 2-3 days a week, 64.3% smartphones, 22.9% flip phones, and 36.6% SNS. Logistic regression analyses revealed that lower PDS (i.e., feeling younger) was associated with a significantly higher frequency of smartphone use (OR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.59, 0.96) after adjusting for age, gender, education, and subjective health. No such association was found for computer, flip phone, and SNS use. Implications: Older adults who use smartphones daily may feel younger than those who do not. Since the present study was administered during the COVID-19 pandemic, the daily use of smartphones may have helped older adults stay in touch with friends and family members and obtain information they need. The use of smartphones possibly contributed to better mental health outcomes while practicing social distancing.

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