Classification of Care Assistive Technology Based on the Relationship Between Users and Technologies

Abstract

While an aging population in Japan and other countries is resulting in an increased demand for nursing care services, there is a shortage of care workers due to a decrease in the working population. The use of care assistive technologies such as robots, artificial intelligence, and information technology is expected to compensate for this shortage, and many care assistive technologies such as power assist devices and communication robots have been developed. However, their introduction and widespread use in actual service have not progressed. The aim of this study is to address the problem on less technology introduction in nursing care by surveying the attitudes of potential users to care assistive technologies, clarify the factors affecting the use of such technologies, and propose a new design method for the technologies. We surveyed attitudes to the use of care assistive technology from the perspective of function and information utilization for three groups: active seniors, informal carers, and formal carers. The survey was conducted in Japan and Finland, which have high aging populations. Based on the survey results, we proposed, as a design method, a classification of care assistive technologies according to their interaction with users as well as the nursing care process.