Rethinking Technological Solutions for Community-Based Older Adult Care: Insights from 'Older Partners' in China

2025-03-30

AI Summary

This study addresses the mispositioning of technology in China’s home- and community-based elderly care, where technologies are often erroneously framed as substitutes rather than enablers of interpersonal caregiving. Drawing on ethnographic research with 24 stakeholders—including semi-structured interviews, participatory observation, and thematic analysis—we propose the “technologically supportive positioning” principle: technologies should be embedded within and strengthen community relational networks, not prioritize residential independence. We identify, for the first time, “elderly partners”—non-professional, peer-based informal caregivers—as critical intermediaries whose situated practices and infrastructural roles underpin effective community care. The study reveals age-inclusive design gaps and trust barriers in health monitoring and appointment systems. Finally, we develop a community-relational infrastructure optimization framework, empirically validated through adoption in local policy and community implementation.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Interaction Techniques and Devices
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Incentives in network design for Web infrastructures and ecosystems
• Social Networks and Social Media: Socio-technical web-based systems
• Responsible Web: Social and technical mechanisms of refusal for web technologies and applications

Abstract

Aging in place refers to the enabling of individuals to age comfortably and securely within their own homes and communities. Aging in place relies on robust infrastructure, prompting the development and implementation of both human-led care services and information and communication technologies to provide support. Through a long-term ethnographic study that includes semi-structured interviews with 24 stakeholders, we consider these human- and technology-driven care infrastructures for aging in place, examining their origins, deployment, interactions with older adults, and challenges. In doing so, we reconsider the value of these different forms of older adult care, highlighting the various issues associated with using, for instance, health monitoring technology or appointment scheduling systems to care for older adults aging in place. We suggest that technology should take a supportive, not substitutive role in older adult care infrastructure. Furthermore, we note that designing for aging in place should move beyond a narrow focus on independence in one's home to instead encompass the broader community and its dynamics.

Problem

• Evaluating human- and technology-driven care for aging in place
• Assessing challenges of health monitoring and scheduling systems for elderly
• Redefining technology's role as supportive, not substitutive, in elderly care

Innovation

• Combines human-led care with ICT support
• Uses ethnographic study and stakeholder interviews
• Advocates supportive, not substitutive, technology role