Smart Home Medical Technologies: Users’ Requirements for Conditional Acceptance

Abstract

One mega challenge for the next decades is the aging of populations in western societies. Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) Technologies provide solutions for these challenges of demographic change. Elderly people living independently in their homes can be monitored for health reasons with integrated information and communication technologies (ICT) to get help in case of emergencies. From the user-centered approach, acceptance of these solutions is crucial. In his work, we focus on the effects of 5 domestic spaces and 3 integrated ICT on acceptance and the influence of user factors. We consider two samples from 2010 (n = 100) and 2015 (n = 148). Results show that visual monitoring is accepted least, positioning best. The role of private and public rooms has a strong influence on acceptance. Also, the type of technology as well as the interaction of technology and room have a strong impact, whereas user factors play only a minor role for AAL acceptance.