Abstract To assist with living independently, older adults are often faced with the decision to accept passive in-home monitoring technologies to ensure safety and security. Their use, however, is frequently accompanied by concerns about privacy, an area that remains poorly understood in the context of ageing. This scoping review identifies current research on older adults’ privacy perceptions regarding in-home passive monitoring technologies, assesses the conceptual frameworks and methods used to examine privacy concerns and attitudes, and explores contextual factors that may influence privacy considerations. A total of 34 studies were reviewed. Findings revealed that privacy, while an important consideration for older adults when using passive monitoring technologies, is often not incorporated into technology acceptance frameworks. Moreover, privacy concerns are often generalized by researchers, failing to distinguish between privacy concerns that are horizontally oriented and those that are vertically oriented, and consequently do not highlight whether they involve monitoring technology, data collection infrastructure or individuals monitoring the subject. Finally, the reliance on privacy conceptualizations that regard individuals as independent and autonomous may limit understanding of an older adult’s privacy experiences. Findings from this study can serve as guidance when exploring the use of passive monitoring technologies to enable ageing in place and will be useful for designing interventions that enable older individuals to remain in their homes longer independently.
Mheidly et al. (Thu,) studied this question.