Analyzing Smart Devices that Support Elderly Care: Focusing on Multidisciplinary Approach

This study examined smart devices that can support elderly care, exploring their advantages, such as instant access to relevant information and efficient interactions between the elderly and caregivers. To achieve the goal, this study conducted a case study for such devices, focusing on their usages for elderly care. The case analysis is based on the multidisciplinary model by Dara-Abrams and organized Gerontechnology, especially smart devices into five different domains depending on the elderly care support types. The five elderly care support domains include comprehensive, environmental, social, cognitive, and physical supports. In order to choose smart devices supporting elderly care, five researchers having experience in multi-year convergence studies were chosen in each academic field. They select devices based on the selection criteria, assuming that each researcher represents each field. Afterwards, this study analyzed the content based on the selected devices to determine which domains were included to support the elderly care. The results show that smart devices provide one or two support features rather than comprehensive support for elderly care. Older adults experience various support needs such as cognitive, mental, social supports as well as physical support as they age. Thus, this study suggests that smart device development should incorporate diverse support needs for comprehensive and effective support provisions.