Welfare Technology and User Experience: A Study of Seniors' Expectations on and First Impressions of a Robotic Shower

Abstract

This study shows that seniors strive to become more independent and that acceptance of welfare technology needs to be understood in the specific situation. User experiences from welfare technology, such as the robotic shower, that serve in a very intimate situation, may not be comparable to the results from previous studies of, for example, surveillance technology. The preliminary results in this paper build on both qualitative and quantitative data, and show that seniors are in general positive to replacing the current shower situation with a more autonomous shower situation as provided by the robotic shower. An important aspect for acceptance was the functionality of the robotic shower. Furthermore, this study showed that the understanding of the shower situation in general can be used for improvement of the current shower situation, to prevent learned helplessness.

The Effectiveness of Assistive Technologies for Older Adults and the Influence of Frailty: Systematic Literature Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

“…The use of assistive technologies (ATs) in older persons’ care has been fueled by these developments, helping to maintain seniors’ autonomy, safety, or communication at home or in residential facilities [ 4 - 8 ]. Thus, ATs may not only increase older adults’ quality of life (QoL) but also contribute to a relief of health care systems and, in particular, formal and informal caregivers [ 2 ].…”

“…In recent years, a variety of devices addressing problems associated with, for example, dementia [ 9 - 11 ], hypertension [ 12 , 13 ], Parkinson disease [ 14 , 15 ], and loneliness [ 16 ] have entered the market. In the literature, the term AT is used to include, among others, telemedical applications [ 17 , 18 ], robotics [ 4 , 19 ], virtual reality [ 20 , 21 ], and sensors [ 22 ], but can also cover more conventional technologies such as hearing or vision aids [ 23 , 24 ]. The lack of a uniform definition and the resulting heterogeneity preclude harmonized recommendations, guidance, and structured research [ 4 , 25 - 27 ].…”

“…In the literature, the term AT is used to include, among others, telemedical applications [ 17 , 18 ], robotics [ 4 , 19 ], virtual reality [ 20 , 21 ], and sensors [ 22 ], but can also cover more conventional technologies such as hearing or vision aids [ 23 , 24 ]. The lack of a uniform definition and the resulting heterogeneity preclude harmonized recommendations, guidance, and structured research [ 4 , 25 - 27 ]. Despite a large amount of existing literature on the use of ATs for older people, the effectiveness of these devices remains unclear [ 3 , 18 , 28 - 30 ].…”